Bucs GM Explains Why He'll Sometimes Draft Players Who Can Be a 'D-Bag' or 'Assh--e'

Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht has a unique approach to evaluating draft prospects.

Per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Licht said during an appearance on The JP Peterson Show that he won't exclude players from the Bucs' draft board simply because of certain character flaws.

"We have a long process of defining who we’re taking off [the draft board] and who we’re not," Licht said. "Now just because a guy, maybe people don’t like him, or he’s a d-bag or an assh--e, we’re not just going to automatically take them off. It’s got to affect their football character and it’s got to affect the team. There’s a lot of people that fit that description that are very good football players and maybe it works in their favor."

It's not clear whether any of Tampa Bay's six selections in this year's draft fall into either of those categories. The team's draft class is headlined by Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, whom the Bucs selected with the No. 19 pick.

Licht went on to add that he won't shy away from developing players who have what some perceive to be negative personality traits.

"[T]here’s a difference between a bad guy and an immature person, and we’ll take immature and help them develop," Licht said. "But, you know, we just don’t want people that are going to affect the locker room in a negative way that affects the performance of others and the team."

He continued: "We’ll take a guy that’s a little bit of a d-bag or an assh--e if they can get to the quarterback, for sure."