Did Buccaneers GM Jason Licht take veiled shot at Lovie Smith?

Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht had some praise for new defensive coordinator Mike Smith, but it came out sounding a lot like some criticism for former head coach Lovie Smith.

Licht made an appearance on SiriusXM’s Movin’ the Chains show and was asked about getting players to fit Mike Smith’s system, and his response definitely raised a few eyebrows.

“[Mike Smith] is more of a, which is a great thing for a scout and for the GM, is that he’s more about fitting the pieces into a scheme, utilizing the players as what their best attributes are,” Licht said, via JoeBucsFan.com. “And fitting the scheme around them, as opposed to trying to find the, you know, schematic fit. And that’s music to my ears. It’s a lot easier to do that. And you know, the intelligent coaches can do that. So that’s going to be a good thing for us.”

The wham line here is definitely Licht talking about “the intelligent coaches,” particularly given one of the criticisms levied at Lovie was that he was unable to adapt his schemes to his personnel. Perhaps the implication is that Lovie Smith wasn’t quite intelligent enough to do what the Bucs’ braintrust wanted, and when you have that knowledge, it’s tough not to look at this as some sort of jab at the former coach.

Still, it’s a bit cold on the part of Licht. Then again, Lovie was reportedly fired by phone, so what’s the limit to that coldness?

H/T ProFootballTalk