Buccaneers did not leave National Football Scouting Organization

Yesterday, we relayed a report by the generally trustworthy Josh Buchanan that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would be leaving the National Football Scouting Organization, one of two cooperative national organizations that deliver preliminary scouting reports on college players to the NFL. That is not the case, general manager Jason Licht told us. Josh Buchanan, the source of that report, has since deleted his tweet as well.

Licht apparently cut his teeth as a scout for the National Football Scouting Organization and called himself a "big supporter" of the group. National Football Scouting is the biggest of the two national scouting organizations, and also features division rival Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints. In 2008, only five teams were not members of either BLESTO (the other group) or National.

So, that spin about avoiding group-think and looking for independent paths? Yeah, oops. The Bucs are still going to rely on the National for their preliminary scouting, and Jason Licht certainly sees the value in the National Football Scouting Organization.