Discover the Buccaneers' draft philosophy: 'I Am That Man' means embodying accountability, competitiveness, and passion, with Lavonte David as the ultimate standard.
In Thursday's opening round, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers added to their defensive front with their No. 15 overall selection, Miami's Reuben Bain Jr.
On Wednesday, ahead of the draft, the Bucs social media team posted a clip from its Prime Video series "Raise the Flags" of general manager Jason Licht talking about what goes into drafting a player, giving viewers insight on what the team is looking for in a prospect.
Licht said he and his staff went back and looked at all of the Buccaneers' greats of the past, including Rondé Barber, Mike Alstott, Derrick Brooks and Warren Sapp.
"We tried to find the common denominator of what all those players had," Licht said. "We came up with accountability, competitiveness, confidence, passion and resilience. There's very few players that can hit on every one of those traits."
The highlight of the scouting room is the large message printed in bold, white lettering above the team's white board. The message reads "I Am That Man," a mantra that encapsulates these five traits.
"The ones that do, we consider that type of player (as) 'I Am That Man,'" Licht said. "As we talked through this, we wanted to have a player in mind. The player that we always think of when we think of these traits is Lavonte David."
David, who recently announced his retirement from the NFL after 14 seasons with Tampa Bay, built quite the resume over his tenure with the Bucs.
The three-time All Pro finished his career with 1,715 total tackles, 177 tackles for loss, 42.5 sacks, 33 forced fumbles, and 14 interceptions. David was one of the most proficient tacklers in NFL history.
The 36-year-old's career tackling numbers tie Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks for the most in Buccaneers history, while his 177 tackles for loss rank fourth all-time, trailing only Terrell Suggs, Calais Campbell and J.J. Watt, who did most of their work on the defensive lines of other teams.
But Licht wasn't focused solely on David's on-field achievements, but instead highlighted leadership and values on and off the football field, saying the 12-time team captain has become the measuring stick for the team evaluates a draft prospect.
"He epitomizes exactly what we were looking for," Licht said before showing the silhouette of David that sits next to the "I Am That Man" statement. "Every meeting that we have. Is he that man? Is he Lavonte David?"
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