The Bucs are entering their 50th season since first donning the Bucco Bruce helmet and creamsicle uniforms in 1976. So it’s only fitting that Pewter Report unveils its Top 50 All-Time Bucs list.

The Buccaneers asked yours truly, Scott Reynolds, to provide my Top 50 list to the team for their media poll and I’ve decided to release my rankings to you over the next two weeks in the form of 10 articles – each with five Bucs greats. My list contains 25 Super Bowl champions – either from the 2002 or 2020 teams – as well as nine members of the 2025 team.

Top 50 All-Time Bucs: 6-10
Top 50 All-Time Bucs: 11-15
Top 50 All-Time Bucs: 16-20
Top 50 All-Time Bucs: 21-25
Top 50 All-Time Bucs: 26-30
Top 50 All-Time Bucs: 31-35
Top 50 All-Time Bucs: 36-40
Top 50 All-Time Bucs: 41-45
Top 50 All-Time Bucs: 46-50

We’ve reached the end of this series with the final five – the Top 5 players who make up Pewter Report’s Top 50 All-Time Bucs.

ALL-TIME BUCS 1-5

No. 5 – DE Lee Roy Selmon
The Gentle Giant Was Bucs’ First Hall Of Famer

When you talk about the origins of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, one name rises above the rest – defensive end Lee Roy Selmon. The first-ever draft pick in franchise history wasn’t just great; he was the foundation of the franchise.

Drafted No. 1 overall in 1976 out of Oklahoma, Selmon became the face of a fledgling team that desperately needed credibility. He delivered it with class, ferocity, and Hall of Fame talent.

Bucs legend Lee Roy Selmon Photo By: USA Today

Selmon racked up a franchise-record 78.5 sacks over nine seasons – all in Tampa Bay – at a time when sack totals weren’t even an official stat until 1982. He made six straight Pro Bowls (1979–1984) and was a first-team All-Pro in 1979 and the NFL Defensive Player of the Year, the same season he helped lead the franchise to the NFC Championship Game in just their fourth season of existence.

What made Selmon so special wasn’t just his pass rush, although that was elite. It was his all-around dominance. Selmon could bull-rush, bend the edge, and blow up run plays like they were scripted.

He was the rare edge rusher who could take over games without saying a word. Teammates called him “The Gentle Giant” for a reason: off the field, he was as kind and humble as he was ruthless on Sundays.

Selmon was the first Tampa Bay player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1995 and the franchise’s initial inductee into the Bucs Ring of Honor. His No. 63 jersey remains retired, one of only a few to earn that honor in Tampa Bay history.

Although he passed away in 2011, Selmon’s legacy still looms large, not just because of what he did for the franchise, but because of the standard he set for what it means to be a Buccaneer.

No. 4 – WR Mike Evans
M1K3: Greatest Offensive Player In Tampa Bay History

From the day he arrived in Tampa Bay as a first-round pick in 2014, Mike Evans has been a Buccaneers star. Drafted seventh overall out of Texas A&M, he’s become an elite wide receiver with 11 straight seasons with 1,000+ receiving yards, tying Jerry Rice for most consecutive 1,000-yard campaigns. Evans already owns the record for the most consecutive 1,000-yard seasons to start an NFL career all by himself.

By the end of the 2024 season, Evans has produced a franchise-high 836 receptions for 12,684 yards (15.2 avg.) and 105 touchdowns – and counting. He’s also Tampa’s all-time leader in points scored with 644 points. Evans also ranks ninth in NFL history in receiving touchdowns and 24th in receiving yards across all players.

Bucs WR Mike Evans – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

With another 11-touchdown season, Evans will tie Antonio Gates for sixth place all-time. And with another 1,000-yard season, he’ll move up to No. 17 overall in receiving yards ahead of Torry Holt and a pair of Hall of Famers in Andre Reed and Steve Largent.

Evans isn’t just prolific, he’s explosive. He’s notched 33 regular-season 100-yard games (most in team history), 18 multi-TD games (another team record), and three postseason 100-yard games. His best season came in 2018 with 86 catches for 1,524 yards and eight touchdowns – the best yardage season in franchise history. Evans’ 14 touchdowns in 2021 is also the most by any Tampa Bay player in a single season.

Evans is a six-time Pro Bowler (2016, ’18, ’19, ’21, ’23, ’24) and was second‑team All‑Pro twice (2016, ’23). He’s maintained elite production even as the quarterbacks and coordinators have changed in Tampa Bay.

Throw in a Super Bowl championship in 2020 and helping the team a franchise-best 13 wins in 2021, and Evans is Tampa Bay’s most dominant weapon of all-time. Evans has already secured his place as a future Hall of Famer and Bucs Ring of Honor member, but he’s not done yet.

No. 3 – CB Ronde Barber
Bucs’ Most Iconic Play Came From Its Best Defensive Playmaker

Ronde Barber was so many things to the Buccaneers: durable, consistent, intelligent, versatile, tough and a ballhawk. The best playmaker on defense in franchise history. Tampa Bay’s most recent Hall of Fame inductee delivered the franchise’s most significant play – a 92-yard pick-six in Philadelphia in the NFC Championship Game – and in turn, delivered the Bucs to Super Bowl XXXVII.

But Barber’s super career in Tampa Bay was in jeopardy at the start. Drafted in the third round in 1997, Barber rarely played as a rookie, and the team feared he might be a bust. So Tampa Bay drafted cornerback Brian Kelly in the second round the next year. That lit a fuse in Barber that was never extinguished in his illustrious 16-year career in which he redefined the nickel cornerback position and helped build one of the most dominant defenses of the 2000s.

Legendary Bucs CB Ronde Barber – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Barber played in a franchise-record 241 games (232 starts) and never missed a single contest from 2000 through his retirement in 2012. He finished his career with 47 interceptions, 28 sacks, 15 forced fumbles, and 14 touchdowns (including eight pick-sixes) in the regular season alone – the only player in NFL history with 40+ INTs and 25+ sacks. That’s not just versatility, that’s unprecedented.

Barber made five Pro Bowls, was named All-Pro three times, and earned a permanent place in Canton with his 2023 induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame due to incredible statistics, his Super Bowl championship and the fact that he produced the Bucs’ most important play in franchise history – a play that made him an instant legend.

He moved from outside corner to slot, then even to safety later in his career – still making plays, still baiting QBs into mistakes. Barber, a Bucs Ring of Honor member, was a film junkie and a silent assassin who made big moments feel routine. On a defense full of legends in Tampa Bay, Barber stands alone as the best defensive back in team history and Tampa Bay’s most prolific playmaker.

No. 2 – LB Derrick Brooks
The Most Decorated Buccaneer Was A Dominant Defender

For a franchise that was forged on great defense and continued in that manner all the way to its first Super Bowl in 2002, it’s no surprise that linebacker Derrick Brooks is the second-best Buccaneer of all-time.

If Warren Sapp was the heart of the Bucs’ Super Bowl defense, then Derrick Brooks was the soul – and the brains, too. The Tampa 2 defense under coordinator Monte Kiffin in the late 1990s and early 2000s was legendary, and Brooks was the steady, sideline-to-sideline force driving it all. Drafted 28th overall in 1995 (the same year the team selected Sapp), Brooks spent his entire 14-year career in Tampa Bay, becoming one of the most beloved and respected players in franchise history.

Bucs legends Derrick Brooks & Lee Roy Selmon – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Brooks played in 224 games and missed just three in his entire career. Brooks wasn’t just tough, he was a mutant at linebacker with blazing speed and incredible instincts. Brooks piled up a franchise-record 2,198 tackles, 25 interceptions, 24 forced fumbles, and seven defensive touchdowns. He was the prototype weakside linebacker in the Tampa 2 defense – fast enough to run with receivers, smart enough to sniff out screens and draws, and physical enough to pop tight ends.

Brooks’ best season came in 2002, when he racked up five interceptions, returning three for touchdowns along with a fumble recovery for a TD. That earned him NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors while leading the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl XXXVII victory. Oh, and he also added a pick-six in the Super Bowl as an exclamation point to his super season.

Brooks was an 11-time Pro Bowler, a five-time first-team All-Pro, and a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2014. He’s in the Bucs Ring of Honor and his No. 55 jersey is rightfully retired by the team. Brooks’ impact goes well beyond the field, as he’s still active in the community and has been a role model for what it means to be a Buccaneer.

No. 1 – DT Warren Sapp
Sapp Attack: The Swagger, Snarl, And Sacks That Transformed Tampa Bay

Warren Sapp didn’t just play defensive tackle in Tampa Bay – he redefined the position for a generation. Selected 12th overall in 1995 as a draft day steal, Sapp arrived in Tampa Bay with a chip on his shoulder the size of a boulder and spent the next nine seasons terrorizing quarterbacks and anchoring one of the nastiest defenses the NFL has ever seen.

Sapp finished his Buccaneers career with 77 sacks, the most by a defensive tackle in franchise history and second-most overall behind Lee Roy Selmon. From 1997 to 2003, he was the engine of Monte Kiffin’s swarming Tampa 2 defense, racking up three double-digit sack seasons, blowing up run games, and eating guards alive after intimidating the heck out of them.

Former Bucs DT Warren Sapp and Ex-Packers QB Brett Favre – Photo by: Getty Images

Known as the “QB Killa,” Sapp’s best campaign came in 1999, when he posted 12.5 sacks, won NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and led the Bucs to the NFC Championship Game on the heels of a then-record 11-win season. The following year, Sapp set a single-season franchise record with 16.5 sacks and nearly led the NFL in that category.

But Sapp brought more than just sack production to Tampa Bay. He brought the edge, attitude, swagger and intensity needed to make the Buccaneers defense one of the most dreaded in the league. Sapp willed Tampa Bay to greatness and turned the Yuccaneers to the Buccaneers in the late 1990s with his leadership up front. He was the fire-starter who brought the juice to practice and gamedays and held everyone accountable in the process.

Raymond James Stadium was the house that Sapp built. He talked trash, danced after sacks, and dared offenses to run up the middle. Most didn’t.

Former Bucs DT Warren Sapp – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

If you are drafting one original Buccaneer to start a franchise with, Sapp is that guy, as he is regarded as one of the top five most dominant defensive tackles in NFL history. And positional importance matters, as good defensive tackles are hard to find, and great ones are rare.

He made seven straight Pro Bowls as a Buccaneer, was named first-team All-Pro four times, and helped bring the franchise its first Super Bowl title in 2002. Sapp was a first-ballot inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013, as well as a Bucs Ring of Honor member. His No. 99 jersey is proudly retired at Raymond James Stadium.

Love him or loathe him, Sapp was the cornerstone of Tampa Bay’s rise to prominence. He was dream come true for the Buccaneers as their first-round pick, and spent nearly a decade giving absolute nightmares to opposing quarterbacks.