GM Jason Licht came into 2023 with a daunting task ahead of him. With Tom Brady freshly retired but his dead cap hit still very real (and only exacerbated by other veteran cap hits), the 10-year veteran decision maker would need to fill out a roster exiting its Super Bowl window.
Add in season-ending injuries to highly paid players Ryan Jensen and Russell Gage, and the Bucs were basically functioning with roughly $90 million in unusable money. It would take savvy signings and, more importantly, a killer draft class to keep Tampa Bay from returning back to the NFC basement.