NFC Notes: Jason Licht, Tetairoa McMillan, Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers

Buccaneers

Bucs GM Jason Licht gave a candid response when asked about his team-building philosophy through the draft.

“It’s really not that hard. We put the players that are worthy of being drafted on the draft board like every team does,” Licht said, via Bucs Wire. “But then we just take the assholes and the douchebags off, and the guys that don’t love football and guys that have proven they don’t like it, that are difficult to deal with, and we just kind of mitigate our risk. We’re taking great players that are great humans.”

Falcons

Falcons assistant GM Kyle Smith spoke about giving their players time to develop but also believes there are potential day one starters in their group.  

“There’s a development piece that has to happen with all these guys,” Smith said, via the team website. “Like there is a development piece to Jalon; he’s going to go in that edge room and we’re going to have him master one position to start. James, there’s still a development piece. They’re all (in need of) development. But obviously the lower you go in the draft, the more probably development pieces that there are.”

“We thought that those guys have the chance,” Smith said. “Obviously, there’s potential starters, there’s Day 1 starters.”

Panthers  

The Panthers selected WR Tetairoa McMillan with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Mike Sando of The Athletic cites an anonymous executive who compared McMillan to Bengals WR Tee Higgins.

“I think he is like Tee Higgins,” the executive said. “That is higher than Tee went, but you would still be getting a top-15 receiver in the league. I do not think Carolina will look back on this draft class, with these players, and regret it. There were not a lot of blue-chip players.”

Another executive points out that McMillan was the only big receiver available and praised their addition of 

“McMillan was the only big guy, so if you were looking for size, you had to take him,” the executive said. “The rusher they got (Scourton) does everything really well, to where I do not think there is a miss factor with him. Not dynamic, but a really good player and an ass-kicker. Guys with those intangibles, you can’t have enough of.”