Who are the five best Buccaneers first round picks of all time?
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Jason Licht and the Buccaneers are getting ready for the NFL draft. Number 19 is where they make their first round pick but they have a great many options for what to do. Do they make a move up to secure one of the big running backs? Do they trade back or stay put? 19 is a great spot to be choosing as it brings lots of intrigue.
But we will find out more about that later on.
For now, we are taking a walk back through franchise history. The Bucs draft history has been colorful to say the least. But there have been a lot of successful moments. There have been the fair share of Bucs great picks.
Let’s figure out who was the best. We are going to countdown the five best first round draft picks in franchise history.
5. Mike Evans
We begin with a player everyone knows and loves. Mike Evans was chosen with the seventh overall choice in the 2014 draft and has been nothing less than a superstar. In that rookie year of 2014, Evans showed the world his potential over three straight weeks in November. Here are the numbers:
- 7 receptions, 124 yards, 2 touchdowns
- 7 receptions, 125 yards, 1 touchdown
- 7 receptions, 209 yards, 2 touchdowns
With that spectacular run of production, Evans showed the world he was an elite receiver and that has continued to this day. That 2014 season saw Evans post 68 catches for 1,051 yards and 12 touchdowns. To show he wasn’t a fluke, he went for 100 yards or more on five separate occasions during his sophomore campaign of 2015. He finished with 74 receptions for 1,206 yards and three touchdowns.
Last year, Evans finally got the recognition he deserved with his first Pro Bowl selection. He posted 96 receptions, 1,321 yards and 12 touchdowns. He was targeted a whopping 173 times to lead the NFL. The most impressive trend was the drops. In 2015 he lodged 11 dropped passes, which dropped to seven in 2016. That is what we need to see for Evans to be recognized as one of the elite wide receivers in football.
Even after just three years, he deserves a spot on this list.
4. Warrick Dunn
Warrick Dunn was drafted number 12 overall in the 1997 draft. At 5’9″, 180 pounds, some believed that Dunn was too small to make a significant impact in the NFL. Boy were they wrong. He stormed the scene in 1997 with back to back 100 yard performances in weeks two and three. His 24 carry, 130 yard performance against the Detroit Lions helped his team to a 24-17 win, and himself to a Pro Bowl selection. That year, Dunn finished with 978 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. He was a strong threat in the passing game as well, catching 39 passes for 462 yards and three touchdowns.
His first 1,000 yard rushing season came in 1998, when he racked up 1,026 yards on 245 carries and two touchdowns. He also upped his receiving number from 39 catches to 44. In 1999 he dropped his career high in receptions (64) and receiving yards (589). His second Pro Bowl appearance with the Bucs came in the year 2000 when he rushed for a career high 1,133 yards and eight touchdowns. The following year was the end of his first stint with the Bucs. That year, Dunn’s rushing yards took a hit, but his receiving totals were solid, with 68 catches for 557 yards and three touchdowns.
After six years with the Falcons, Dunn returned to Tampa Bay for his final NFL season. He posted 786 rushing yards and 330 receiving yards on 47 catches. He may not have been big, but he was fast and dominant. In six years with the Bucs over his two stints, he ran the ball 1,256 times for 4,986 yards and 19 touchdowns. He added 306 pass receptions for 2,704 yards and nine touchdowns.
3. Derrick Brooks
I think you all remember this guy. Derrick Brooks was the 28th pick overall by the Bucs in the 1995 draft and he remained with the team through his final season of 2008. He became the starter in his rookie season and started 13 games. He posted 79 tackles, one sack and two forced fumbles. He established his dominance in 1996 with 133 total tackles and his first interception.
Beginning in 1997 and going through 2008, Brooks missed the Pro Bowl only once (2007). That’s ten straight appearances and 11 out of his final 12 seasons. He also was chosen first team All-Pro five times. Brooks was the model of consistency, never dropping below 100 tackles in a season until 2008. He may not have put up the flashy numbers in the pass rush that another member of the team did, but he was always around the football making the play.
Brooks made his presence felt in the Super Bowl win over the Oakland Raiders, taking a Rich Gannon interception back 44 yards for a score to put his team up 41-21 late in the fourth quarter.
It was a great career, with 1,710 career tackles, 13.5 sacks, 25 interceptions, 24 forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries.
2. Lee Roy Selmon
For our number two selection, we go right back to the beginning. Lee Roy Selmon was the first college draft pick in team history. Right off the bat he was dominant. With 40 sacks and 325 total tackles in college, this was to be expected. Many of the stats we know of today weren’t kept during Selmon’s early days in the league, so we have to evaluate him differently. Take a look at this quote about Selmon from the Gainesville Sun back in 1981 (from Wikipedia):
"Buccaneer assistant Abe Gibron said, “Selmon has no peers” at defensive end, while former Detroit Lions coach Monte Clark compared him to “a grown man at work among a bunch of boys”."
Starting in 1979, Selmon was selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his final six years, before a back injury ended his career after the 1984 season. In 1982, the NFL started recording sacks as an official statistic. From there until the end of his career, Selmon recorded 23 sacks, including 11 in 1983. In 1979, he earned NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors.
It’s also important to take note of how he shined on very bad Bucs teams. Through Selmon’s entire career in Tampa they posted a winning record twice. They were winless in 1976, and won only twice in 1977. Selmon was a star through some really ugly days in Tampa, and it earned him a bust in Canton in the class of 1995. He died in 2011 from complications stemming from a stroke.
But what a player he was.
1. Warren Sapp
If you ask the fans in New York, this guy should have been a member of the Jets, not the Bucs. Warren Sapp was the 12th overall pick in the 1995 draft. The New York Jets held the ninth pick, and everyone knew they were looking for an edge rusher. Radio City Music Hall was lined with Jets fans chanting, “We want Sapp!”. Fortunately for the Bucs, Kyle Brady was the Jets choice, and Sapp made it all the way to number 12, and the rest was history.
He started eight games in 1995, notching three sacks and 27 total tackles. He recorded that first sack in his debut against the Philadelphia Eagles. Sapp became the full-time starter in 1996 and didn’t relinquish the position until he left Tampa to head to Oakland after the 2003 season. During his time in Tama, Sapp posted at least ten sacks on three separate occasions, including a 16.5 sack performance in 2000. That year, he posted more than one sack on four separate occasions, including a three sack performance in a win over the Detroit Lions.
Sapp was selected to the Pro Bowl every year from 1997-2003 and was named first team All-Pro four straight times (1999-2002). His 77 sacks rank him at the top of the list in franchise history. In the run to the Super Bowl title, Sapp notched 1.5 sacks, including one in the Super Bowl against the Oakland Raiders. For his career, he posted 5.5 sacks in the playoffs.
Next: Grading the 2016 Free Agent Class
What do you think of this list? Did I miss someone? Wrong order? Sound off in the comments…