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Tampa Bay GM After Taking Tryon: 'We've Had Some Luck with Washington'

Jason Licht says Huskies come out of that program well prepared to enter the NFL.
Dan Raley|
Tampa Bay GM After Taking Tryon: 'We've Had Some Luck with Washington'
Tampa Bay GM After Taking Tryon: 'We've Had Some Luck with Washington'

If Tampa Bay is the big leagues, the University of Washington football program is its Triple-A franchise.

On Thursday night, outside linebacker Joe Tryon became the fourth former Husky player to land on the roster of the defending Super Bowl champs, and their second first-round draft pick.

The 6-foot-5, 259-pound Tryon, taken with the 32nd and the final pick of the opening round by the Buccaneers, joins fellow defensive lineman and former 2018 No. 1 pick Vita Vea, reserve defensive lineman Benning Potoa'e, and return man/wide receiver Jaydon Mickens on the Florida team.  

That connection was not lost on Tampa Bay general manager Jason Licht, though he said Tryon's talent level superseded any college connection.

"We've had some luck with Washington," Licht said. "It didn't have anything to do with the draft pick. He could have been playing for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, for all I care, and we still would have picked him."

The Bucs executive revealed that his franchise was presented with late trade offers to move back in the draft order, but it wasn't going to entertain them unless Tryon was drafted earlier by someone else. They liked everything about the Renton, Washington, product.

"He's a very fluid athlete," Licht said. "He's got very good feet. Good lateral quickness. He plays with tremendous effort, which raises his game speed, in my opinion, because he never gives up."

Had Tryon played this past season for the UW, and had a better or even similar outing to his 2019 college performance, his draft stock would have risen, Licht said. 

The Tampa Bay GM said Tryon interviewed well, came off as an intelligent person and he received reports that the linebacker was a good teammate in the locker room. To his benefit, Tryon won't come in with the pressure of having to start or contribute a lot right away for the Bucs and he can learn from the returning players.

Licht credited some of Tryon's preparedness to his college background, praising the UW for getting players ready to make the jump to the NFL. 

"To play in that program, it's a very good program historically and players usually come out of there understanding the grind and understanding the process," Litcht said. "Most of them turn out to be pretty good players."

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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