3. Buccaneers DT Warren Sapp – 1995-2003

By Mark Cook

Aloof. Angry. Disrespectful to the fans. An emotional roller coaster. All of those things, and lots more, have been said about Bucs great Warren Sapp. But no matter your thoughts on him personally, you can’t question Sapp’s love for football, his talent or his desire to win. That makes him arguably the best to ever play for the Buccaneers.

While Sapp made few friends in Tampa Bay outside the locker room, inside he commanded it. A strong work ethic, a guy who pushed his teammates (sometimes literally that escalated to physical altercations at times) the former Miami star arrived in Tampa as a rookie in 1995 determined to not play football for a laughing stock. And make no mistake, that is exactly the perception the Bucs had nationally. He, along with fellow rookie teammates linebacker Derrick Brooks and a handful of veterans like Hardy Nickerson took it as a personal insult when listening to the national pundits talked about their team.

A perfect storm, or as I like to call it the Bucs “Big Bang” happened in his second season with the arrival of a new young defensive minded head coach in Tony Dungy, and Monte Kiffin who was chosen to lead the defense. With Sapp in the middle, Brooks and Nickerson at linebacker, and a young up and coming secondary, plus a widely talented – yet most unproven staff – all buying in, the fate of the Buccaneers would forever be changed.

Sapp thrived in Kiffin’s system, of course with his talent, he would have thrived in anyone’s system, but the Bucs style of 4-3 was tailor made for Sapp’s skillset. After a mediocre rookie season (3.0 sacks) came back with nine sacks in 1996 then broke the double-digit benchmark the following year with 10.5 and earning his first trip to the Pro Bowl. Sapp was named the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year in 1999, a year that saw the Bucs make it to the NFC Championship game.

Sapp’s career continued to shine and all the hard work, leadership and pain culminated with walking off the field as a Super Bowl Champion in San Diego in 2002. Sapp finished his career two sacks(77) short of passing Lee Roy Selmon’s team record of 78.5.

Cook’s Take: “Scott Reynolds and I have debated if Sapp or Brooks was the best ever, since both played for the Bucs. I don’t know either choice would be wrong. Off course Selmon is in the mix too. But regardless, despite his surliness with the media – and yes I have been on the receiving end a number of times – I love Warren Sapp. The grouchiness, the poor choices, the teddy bear he can be, the jokester and sometimes intimidator, he’s a lover of the game. Say what you want about him personally, Sapp loves football. He loves the history of the game, and when he realized he wasn’t as effective at it as he wanted, he refused to disrespect the sanctity of it, and he hung up his cleats. He most certainly could have milked a few more millions out of a couple more seasons as a reserve backup specialty third down rusher, but he had a standard and when he knew it was time, he was done. I still get nervous when I have to call or text Warren. You never know which Warren you might get, but nine times out of ten, by the time the hour-long conversation is over, you felt like a smarter person. And trust me you have laughed till your gut hurt.”