The Dave Pasch Podcast - Jason Licht

Tom Brady. We talk about his return, whether Jason was concerned at all about when Tom wasn't there during camp, when he first thought Brady was coming back after his January retirement. The first time I got an inkling that this might not be forever retirement was from text sent to me during the Super Bowl, and you could just feel that the fire was still there. And that was when I told my wife, I said, I don't think this is over. Also Gronk's future, Jason's time with the Cardinals,

what he learned from Steve Kim, and much more. We are presented by BETMGM, the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Hila River Hotels and Casinos. Get ready for a football season like never before With bet MGM, an official partner of the Arizona Cardinals. Sign up today using code cards one thousand and get your first bet risk free up to one thousand dollars. Visit BETMGM dot comfer terms and conditions twenty one and over

Arizona only. Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem call one eight hundred Next step. Now. When you first hear our interview, you might wonder why I'm talking about a steak dinner with Jason. Well, here's the inside story. Jason texted Wolf and I during a telecast in the preseason a year ago after the Buccaneers had won the Super Bowl, and Jason said, Hey, if you can work into the telecast, I'm still friends with Steve Kim, I'll buy you a

steak dinner. Now. I get a lot of requests from people texting or in person, sometimes players saying, Hey, it's my mother's birthday, can you give her a shout out? You discern, okay, what's going to serve the viewer and what's not. So normally you say sorry, we can't really do that, But in this case, you know, it's a preseason game, the Buccaneers had won the Super Bowl. We can tie this into the Cardinals, and we'll also get a stake dinner out of it. We made it happen.

So we tell our producer, Hey, when we come back from break, give us a shot of Michael Bidwill and Steve Kinne. So we come out of break and again, this is about a minute after we got the text from Jason. We come out of break and I say, Michael Bidwell, Cardinals owner, Steve Kine, the general manager. Steve has had so much success as a GM, and he's also had some people under him that have gone on to have success, like Jason Light who's now the GM

of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Congrats to Jason and the Bucks on winning the Super Bowl. And by the way, Jason and Steve are still close friends today. And within about five seconds, I get a text from Jason saint darn it because he knew he had just lost out on a steake dinner. But the statute of limitations has passed. We're a year after that. So I guilted Jason into coming on the podcast instead of the steak dinner. So

here he is Tampa Bay Buccaneers General Manager Jason l Well. Jason, while I would have loved to have had this conversation with the over a steak dinner. I'm good with this man. Just catching up with you is great. How you been, brother, I've been good. How about you? I'm good, man, Camp's been. You can rehatch it over a steak dinner. Sounds good. Yeah. No, at some point like our paths are going to cross again.

I don't know if I'll have maybe a college football game in Tampa, but maybe when you're here over Christmas or something, we'll hook up. Sounds good. You know, of all the guys, you're one of my favorites of the guys that have come through here, and I'm so happy

for your success. And I'm curious, Jason, as you look back, I mean, you've been you've been the GM now in Tampa since twenty fourteen, But as you think back to your time in Arizona, and I know you were here for two stints, but in particular the second time that you were here, what are some of your biggest takeaways from working with Steve Kime and working here with the Cardinals that helped you prepare to run the team in Tampa.

There's a lot, I would say, I reflect on this a lot, and we I talked this, you know, talked to a lot of my people about this that asked the question. And I was, you know, fortunate enough to be with some really good organizations the Patriots twice, the Eagles and being two of the teams and had a lot of success. Those teams had a lot of success.

So I was able to see how those good teams were built and you know, how they were managed and coached and all those things, and worked with some great people, Bill Belichick, Andy Reid, I mean, just to name a couple, but I would say that what prepared me the most for this position was working for Steve and seeing how he was afforded. I was afforded the luxury just based on our relationship and he's still one of my closest friends.

Of getting a front row seat to all of the things that go on behind the scenes and how things are handled, and that's what that's what gms aren't ready for. In most cases. You we we spend our career either on the road or in the office evaluating players. And in my case and in terms of you know, going to getting the GM job based on my coming up through the scouting routes and you know, you you evaluate players.

You're right before it. So you have the meetings, you stand on the table for certain players and um, you know, you say stay away from certain players. But and that's I don't want to say that's the easy part. That certainly isn't easy, but that's what I was trained to do.

I wasn't trained to deal with the injuries and the relationships and the you know, some off field things that come up with every team and with Steve and him allowing me to be there in the room with him when these things were discussed on how we're going to handle them with pr things like that with Mark Dalton, who I think is one of the best in the league. You know, I don't think I would have been I don't think it would have been a very smooth situation

for me. And now it wasn't smooth the first here for me either, But I don't know if I would have gotten through these times, those times, those rough times without that experience with Steve. Well. One of the things that I think Steve is really good at that maybe fans don't see, and I think you're the same way, is look player evaluation, putting together a roster winning games. Obviously that's what matters most, and that's what the fans see.

But building relationships goes a long way to getting deals done, to finding out information that maybe other Scouts or gems may not be able to get from certain people. How do you think your ability to deal with people helps you be a good GM. I think it's of the utmost importance. I've always liked people in general, liked having relationships, building relationships, keeping relationships. And Steve is one of the best I've ever been around. And he's just got a knack.

Everybody feels like they've been a close friend or compident of Steve their entire life, even if they he meets them for the first time. And I've taken a lot that's rubbed off on me a little bit my times with him. He he would always say, you know, it's it's not always the excess and O's, it's the Jimmy's and Joe's and and He's right. You You you want talent, you want to bring in the best talent you can, but you also want people that um are able to

communicate and able to get along with everybody. And you know, one team one causes Ba's was BEA's one of his expressions that he used all the time, and Steve is just a phenomenal people person, and I felt like, you know, we were naturally attracted to each other's friends because we both have that quality, I think, And that's not patting myself on the back. I just think we both like generally like people and getting through rough waters. It's all

about relationships. This is a relationship business, just like any other business. And Jason, I'm not asking you to pat yourself on the back with this question, but I am curious. Is there somebody that you look back on your time here in Arizona and you mentioned, you know, the metaphor of standing on the table for a guy. Is there somebody that's having success now with the Cardinals that you were really bullish about at the time and had to

stand on the table for, so to speak. Well, that's always that's always a tough question to answer for this reason that we all have our ideas and suggestions and and players that we that we like and we want to stand on the table or we stand on the table four But at the end of the day, it's it's the GM that pulls that card off the board,

and you know, it's it's it's it's a team. It's teamwork, and it's a it's a we all work together to to to make the decision and build the board the right way, but it's always the GM that to make the final call. And in that in that case back then, Steve obviously, So to take credit for someone it's it's a little bit uh, it gets a it's a little bit muddy, um because you know I could have stood on the table. You know, Steve was He and I saw eye to eye on most players, and I mean

really liked Tyr and Matthew and Um. I sat in Steve's office and we watched a ton of tape on Tyrn and and and he at the time i'd been in their earth at LSU, and we watched it together and he was like, you know, you're right, you know, just heaving player. He would have come up with that, that would he would have come to that buy on his own, I'm sure at some point. So you know, it's hard to say that, you know, I stood on the table. This is I'm the reason that these particular

players are there, if you know what I'm saying. Sure, sure, well enough on your past job here with Arizona, let's talk about your current position, Jason and your team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Obviously, the big story the last few days has been Tom Brady's absince Tom was back at practice today. Let me take a wild guess. He looked like Tom Brady? Am I right? Yeah? All was good

again today the Waters were home. In a situation like that where a player the caliber of Tom Brady that you've had a relationship with for two decades is missing time for personal reasons, I have to think and tell me if I'm wrong that it's a matter of trust, Like you know, Tom's going to bring it week one, regardless of time missed. Well, there's no question he's I have never been around a player that prepares as conscientiously, diligently and does it the right way then Tom Brady.

And you know he was gone for whatever it was eleven days. I know he was preparing in those eleven days as well, So it a total trust with him. And you know, it's obviously it's great to have him back in the building. The vibe picks up even more when he's gone. But the foundation that he's set already then you know in the last two years that we've been with that he's been with us, it carries over

whenever he's done. That was one of the things that we talked about before we signed him and for agency in twenty twenty was however long he plays, two, three, four, whatever breaths, his presence is going to be sold for a long time just because of the standard that he sets. You want a Super Bowl as part of the Patriots with Tom Brady in two thousand and two, and then you're also there back with the Patriots two thousand and

nine to two eleven. Has Tom changed much at all being around him now compared to his early years in the NFL? Or is he at the core the same guy? I think you've gotten better looked in and I think that he's actually a stronger arm. But it's amazing. I mean, look what he's done. The story obviously, in terms of the greatest stories in the history of the NFL, it's at the top of the list. And then you know, after the playoff loss to the Rams, Tom decides to

retire for the time being. How much were you and Tom in conversation during his retirement and talking about the possibility of coming back we first time, well we we had sent text back and forth because we do have a good relationship. He did the same thing with Beau,

kept in touch. The first time I got an inkling that this might not be forever retirement was some text sent to me during the Super Bowl and you could just feel that he was the fire was still there, that he wishes that he was playing in that game, and you know, he always feels like he could beat any team, so you know, I could just feel the fire. And that was when I pulled Blair my wife. I said, I don't think this is over. So really it was a matter of weeks then, because that that loss was

what towards the end of January. So a couple of weeks passes and not surprising based on his competitive nature's he's ready to come back to you guys. I'm also curious about Todd Bowles, who everybody here in Arizona knows from his time here, and you were here during some of the those years when Todd was a defensive coordinator. How long did it take you, guys to make that decision once BA stepped down to go with Todd, Well,

it was it was very quickly. We do have the luxury here of having a lot of very very good coaches, Um byron Um, Harold Goodwin, who you know, uh, Keith Armstrong and you know Glisz kind of goes on on Larry Foot. We've we've got some excellent coaches here. But we just felt Todd and b A felt Todd with his experience as being a head coach in New York and go the way he wanted it and necessarily felt

that was all should have fallen on Todd. Um. We felt, you know, his his the way he commands a room, the way he's such a great keep up in terms of relationships with players and getting the most out of him. It didn't take long at all. It's Ba's involvement. I know his title as senior advisor to you the GM. How much are you and BA conversing daily weekly about the team and how heavily involved is BA with you guys. BA and I talk along with my directors and scouts constantly.

He's been a part of those conversations talking about how this roster is shaping up this year, who we feel like gives us the best chance to win m I sit with BA during our games. He's I know, he's he talks with Todd a lot and the other coaches he's been Uh, you know, he still has a lot of passion for the game, but he is loving life right now. He's loving his role. He looks great. He's got a ton of energy, and I know he's very excited.

As if when I talk to him about this team and you know the potential that we have, you would think that he was still coaching. He's just not actually coaching the players. How did your time as a bartender prepare you to work with BA? It comes in handy.

I will say, Man, you are pretty funny on Twitter because there's all these tweets and pictures of UNBA with a beer in your hand or I think I saw one with you guys on a beach with Rick Christophel one of the assistant coaches, with may tie or something like that. Yeah, that was I think that was the week after we won the Super Bowl, so we were back at work. It's great, man, No people got to follow you on Twitter. And then I think I saw one with the ac DC shirt. That might have been

another with the Metallica shirt. So you're you're a huge heavy metal guy. Are you still like a big heavy metal guy? Well, I'm kind of stuck in my genre. I'm born in seventy one, and all through high school and college I was a big Tallica AC DC fan. And during that twenty twenty season, I'm a I'm a little stitious, not superstitious, but a little stitious. And I had had a lucky shirt and through the playoffs and

it was Metallica shirt. And then after the game, I had a couple of pictures with Gronk and with Brady and BA and Metallica actually reached out to me through their general manager. Maybe he and I can do a trade um someday. But they gave they gave me some VIP tickets that happened to be on our bye weekend through their concert in Fort Lauderdale. So I went, and I mean it was it was unbelieved. It was like it was one of the best moments. I can imagine

us the best concert I've ever been to. So yeah, I would say I'm a pretty pretty pretty big fan. And you talked about being stitious not superstitious. Is that part of it again? This goes back to your Twitter feed. You used to jump into your pool in a full suit when you guys win. Are you still doing that or is that just one year that you were doing that. It was one year now, one year that I was actually posting it. Um still do it from time to

time with my kids. They love it. That year, particularly year, we had just we had been we had won a lot of games, and we had talked about when I got the job that you know, after we win, I'll come home, we'll have a pool party and with the family. And it just wasn't happy. I was coming home and we weren't having parties at all. Nobody wanted to talk to dad because I was in such a bad mood.

And then we won that first game versus the Saints, So I came home and jump jumped into the pool at my kids and I kind of took off that year as a little tradition that we do, but I backed off on that recently. But now I'm going to save it for the big wins. Well, like any executive, I'm sure you live and die with success and failure.

I'm curious Jason was this offseason after winning a super Bowl the previous year and then losing in the playoffs and not getting the opportunity to get back, which is very hard to do. In the NFL, but not getting that opportunity to come back. Was this in some ways, along with obviously everything else he was going out in the organization. Was this a harder offseason for you because you had you had tasted that championship success the year before. I would say the last two off seasons were very

difficult for me. Like it's, you know, one of the first place I worked with the Dolphins an intern when Don Shul's head coach, and then Jimmy Johnson came in the next year, and Jimmy had promoted me to a full time position. But so I kept in touch with Jimmy over the years, and so after we won the Super Bowl, he texted me, I mean almost immediately and he said, now now the hard part starts, And he was right, it's you know, the expectations are one thing,

but it's just managing everybody's egos. And we have a great locker room, so that part wasn't real difficult, but just keeping the team together. Then also, you know, you get that taste of winning and being the best team in the NFL at the time after winning the Super Bowl, and you want to do everything you can to make sure you have an opportunity to do that again. So life becomes a little bit more stressful during those off

seasons than they do in years past. And you mentioned earlier you had an inkling during the Super Bowl that maybe Tom was thinking about coming back. Do you still have a feeling that Gronk will return or do you feel like this is it, He's really done? You know, I just he's he puts himself out there a lot on social media. Looks like he's having a hell of a time. So I don't I'm not crossing my fingers

on this one. Um, We'll have to see what happens in terms of some of you know, the players that are on the rush right now, You've had some injuries in camp with the offensive lineup. How big of a concern is that group right now for you? Well, internally, it's it's not the concern that seems to be Externally.

We have a lot of we have a lot of faith in some of these young players that we've drafted and drafted high in the last couple of years, Robert Hainsey and Kadecki, and we took him for a reason and to be in this position if we needed them. So we also have a couple of young guys that we've had with us for a while, UM, that have gotten better and better. We have excellent coaches here that have developed these offensive linemen. Um, so we feel good

about where we're at. And um it's not as you know, as you you you might read the story here or there that thinks that we're ready to hit the panic button, but we're not. So we feel very good about the group that we have. How about the weapons around tom how do you feel about those guys? Well, Mike Evans is an unbelievable player. Chris Godwin has been awesome for us, and he's looking good out here in his rehab. And then Julio has been everything and more than what we

were expecting. These these aw fully help right now making plays every day that he's out there practicing. Um, I'm really excited to the regular season to start have those three and then Russell Gage and then some players that we've already had on our roster, so Cam Braid, m Leonard Pournette, there's a couple of rookies that were really really high on right now. So really, the regular season can't come here fast enough for me. Sure, I think Mike Evans was your first pick when you were the

GM in Tampa. I'm if I'm correct there, where does he in terms of the best players that you've scouted over all your years doing this, where does he rank?

He was phenomenal in college. You know, it was a big part of the reason Johnny Manziel won the Heisman that year because of how productive he was and I unstoppable he was at A and M. Yeah, he sure was looking back on that year that that was my first draft and there's a lot of good players in that draft, and we the question was always watching the A and M tape is basically was which came first to chicken or the egg? Was it Manzel or was

it Evans? Was it both? We think we got it right thinking of with Evans, and uh, I'm pretty sure we did. And he's right up there and one of the best players I did look at. Now, there's some evaluate now there were some really good ones in that draft. But you know, going back in time, I'm glad that we I'm glad we got Mike. He's one of my favorite people and not just players. He's an unbelievable teammate,

unbelievable human being and at our house. We kind of feel like he's part of our family just because my kids talk about him constantly and he's he's such a good role model for them. Last one for you, Jason. When the schedule came out and you saw that, first of all, you're playing on Christmas, second you're playing on the road, and third you're playing the Cardinals, what were your thought? We were actually pretty excited about that because my kids they're too young. My oldest two were there

when I was there. Field was just born in October, and we left in you know, for the this job in February, so he was six months old. Um, we we have they've always had a fondness for Arizona, just because my wife and I talked about it all the time, how right up a time we had living there, working for Michael, working for Steve um a lot of memories. So the first thing we did was just made made plans that we're all going to be out there for Christmas,

um and be together and staying there. So the the kids now living it, they don't really know what snow is, so we're hoping maybe we can they can get up to flag flagstaff and maybe ski before we get out there as a team so that we're really really looking forward to it. So they'll come out early in the week and then you'll fly out with the team a day before. Yeah, that's the plan right now, gotcha? All right, man, listen, I'll let you go, Jason. I really appreciate the time.

It's great catching up with you. As I said earlier, Man, I'm so happy for your success, and I'm not the only one in the Cardinals organization that feels the same way. You're still very thought, fondly thought of here amongst everybody in the organization, and we wish you the best of us success in twenty twenty two, with the exception of Christmas night. Man, I appreciate it, Dave. All right, Jason, take care, brother. So a lot there from Jason about

Tom Brady and his return. When Jason knew it sounded like he knew just a couple of weeks after the announcement was made by Tom that he was retiring. Sounded like Jason knew based on his reaction to a text from Tom during the Super Bowl, that Brady might be coming back. Jason also talked very fondly about his time here with the Cardinals, his relationship with Steve Kime, how much Steve helped prepare him for his role as general manager,

a position that he's held since twenty fourteen. So a lot of great stuff there from bucks GM Jason Life. We are presented by bet MGM, the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Hila River Hotels and Casinos. You can follow us on Twitter at pash pod, and you can also go to your podcast platform and tell us what you think. Do you like the pot, do you think we suck? Rate us? Tell us whatever you want to tell us about the podcast. There's a

guest you want to hear from. A lot of people have said they want to hear from Ron Wolfley. That's coming at some point. Perhaps when we can't find a guest, we'll go to wolf and have him join us in the studio. We do have some future guests locked up. Over the next few weeks, you'll hear from Clemson head coach Dabo Sweeney several Clemson Cardinals connections that we'll talk to Dabo about. Also Charles Davis, CBS announcer and ESPN

NFL analyst Marcus Spears. Thanks again to bucks GM, Jason Light, and thanks to you for listening to another edition of the Day Pash podcast