The Buccaneers have only been around since 1976, but they sure do have a pretty painful history. We’ve counted down some of the bright spots in our all-time lists, but this is a look at some of the negative. Here, we look at five players that played for the Bucs, but made their mark away from Tampa Bay.
The Buccaneers have seen quite a few special players throughout their history. Some have come to Tampa through the draft and blossomed into superstars. Guys like Lee Roy Selmon, Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, Ronde Barber and Mike Alstott were brought into the league by Tampa Bay and repaid the franchise in a big way. Others arrived in free agency and had successful Buccaneer careers. Players like Michael Pittman, Hardy Nickerson, Simeon Rice and more recently, Vincent Jackson fall into that category. Good group of guys there, huh?
As fun as it would be to focus on the positives, that’s not the point right now. Here, we’re looking at players that made their mark elsewhere. Below are some of the situations the Bucs seemingly have far too often:
- Superstar player comes to Tampa, disappoints, then moves on and continues being a star elsewhere
- Superstar player comes to Tampa, disappoints, then retires
- Top prospect gets drafted by Tampa Bay, disappoints, then moves on to be a star elsewhere
- Average player comes to Tampa, disappoints or continues being average, then moves on and develops into a star
The saddest part, however, is that the majority of guys on this list weren’t really that bad with the Bucs, but their tenures were just forgettable for one reason or another. Without further ado, let’s dive into our list of five players that made their mark elsewhere and left a little (or a lot) to be desired with the Buccaneers.
5. Michael Bennett
This one still hurts. This really hurts. It might even be wrong to put Michael Bennett on this list, but he has made his mark away from Tampa Bay. But this is all on the Buccaneers. Bennett could still be a Buc, which would make the team’s defensive line downright deadly. But instead, in his infinite wisdom, Greg Schiano decided Bennett wasn’t right for his scheme (yeah, a scheme that stuck around in Tampa for a grand total of one season after that move). Bennett also said he didn’t feel like the Glazer family wanted him on the team.
Related Story: Buccaneers: Bennett still not over his departure from Tampa Bay
Regardless of how, the Bucs ruined their chance at having another defensive superstar. Bennett is still making a huge impact in Seattle with the Seahawks. With Tampa Bay, he flashed the potential of a big-time player. He finished with nine sacks in 2012, coming close to the team’s first 10-sack season since 2005. Injury concerns (that turned out to be unfounded), discipline issues (that somehow made him unfit for Schiano’s scheme) and whatever feelings the Glazers had led him to Seattle starting in 2013.
In four seasons with the Seahawks, Bennett is up to 106 tackles and 30 1/2 sacks. He’s now a Super Bowl champion, a two-time Pro Bowl selection and a Pro Bowl MVP. If the Bucs hadn’t destroyed their relationship with the talented defensive end, what could have been? Would Tampa Bay have a second Super Bowl trophy? I really doubt it, but would there have been as much losing? He certainly would have made the defense a whole lot better. What-ifs aside, Bennett lands on this list because, by no fault of his own, his Tampa Bay career was disappointing and what followed was “super” success.
No. 4- Aqib Talib
The 20th pick in the 2008 NFL Draft really wasn’t terrible- on the field- during his time with Tampa Bay. In 58 games with the Bucs, Aqib Talib came up with 18 interceptions. That’s eighth all-time on the franchise’s leaderboard. However, his time with the team was overshadowed by off-field troubles. He got in a fight with a teammate in his rookie year. A year later, he was charged with resisting arrest and simple battery. And it didn’t end there, as he was later accused of shooting at his sister’s boyfriend. He was indicted in 2011 before the charges were dropped in 2012.
His time with the Buccaneers was all about character issues, which is why it’s no surprise that his tenure in Tampa came to an end with a suspension for violating the league’s drug policy. He was handed a four-game suspension, the team traded him to New England and that was that. In the last four seasons, he has 14 interceptions. Talib won a Super Bowl with Denver, made the Pro Bowl every year from 2013 to 2016 and was a first-team All-Pro in 2016. To cap all of that off, he picked off the Bucs twice when he returned to Tampa in October of 2016.
Was Talib really a disappointing player on the field for the Bucs? Nope. He was actually really good. But what happened off the field tarnished his Tampa Bay legacy. Now, he’s known for being a top cornerback in the league. Once he got out of the Bay Area, he changed that legacy. What a shame for the Buccaneers, as they missed out on the brightest part of his NFL career.
No. 3- LeGarrette Blount
In 2010, the Bucs signed LeGarrette Blount as an undrafted free agent. The big bruising running back was solid in his first two years in Tampa, but his tenure ended with a thud. Tampa Bay used him sparingly in 2012 before trading him to New England in 2013. He immediately made an impact with the Patriots, then re-emerged in 2015 and 2016 as an explosive runner. He showed flashes in 2010 and 2011 with the Buccaneers, but how many football fans- other than Bucs fans themselves- know Blount for his time in Tampa?
The big man ran for 1,007 yards in his rookie year, then followed that with 783 in year two. After dipping in year three and being shipped to New England, he scored a new career-high seven touchdowns in 2013. 2014 was a down year that he split as a backup with New England and Pittsburgh, but he came back in 2015 with a breakout year. He ran for 703 yards and six touchdowns on just 165 carries. If anyone hadn’t forgotten about his time as a Buc by then, 2016 was the year that did it. In the Patriots’ Super Bowl season, he rushed for 1,161 yards and a league-leading 18 touchdowns on 299 carries. He was the team’s workhorse in a year that Tampa Bay struggled to find a workhorse due to constant injuries.
After leaving Tampa, Blount earned two Super Bowl rings and some good money. This offseason, he signed a one-year, $1.25 million contract with the Eagles. The Bucs got a couple of good seasons out of Doug Martin since dealing Blount in 2013, but they sure missed the big bruiser in Martin’s down years. Instead, the former Oregon Duck made a name for himself elsewhere.
No. 2- Darrelle Revis
Talk about disappointing. Darrelle Revis is yet another player on this list that comes out of the Greg Schiano era. Is that a coincidence? Probably not, but that’s a discussion for another time if we’re all willing to relive the circus that was Schiano’s tenure. Okay, some of the blame here does go to Lovie Smith’s scheme too, but I digress. The point is, Revis is a Hall of Fame cornerback that spent one year in Tampa before being released. Yes, the Bucs released Revis because they tried to trade him and couldn’t.
Revis actually made the Pro Bowl and won comeback player of the year for the one season he was wearing red and pewter. But will anyone outside of the Tampa Bay fan base remember he was a Buc? 2013 had way too much going on for anyone to notice what the cornerback was doing. Josh Freeman‘s benching, Schiano’s antics, MRSA and an 0-8 start took precedence over Revis, which makes him pretty forgettable as a Buccaneer. It really wasn’t his fault. There’s a trend going on with this list, isn’t there?
Anyway, Revis is a seven-time Pro Bowl selection, four-time first-team All-Pro and the 2009 AFC Defensive Player of the Year. Oh, and he won a Super Bowl after he left Tampa. His two-interception, one-sack season in Tampa was highly forgettable. He certainly made his name elsewhere and really, when he eventually makes it to Canton, will anyone expect him to mention his time with the Bucs? Why should he?
1. Steve Young
It’s almost poetic, isn’t it? The Buccaneers, until 2015 at least, just could not find a franchise quarterback. Yet, they once had one of the top quarterbacks in NFL history. But of course, he wasn’t that guy when they had him. Steve Young played two miserable seasons with Tampa Bay, then went on to be a Hall of Famer with the San Francisco 49ers. Oh, that’s good for him, but it’s yet another painful note in Buccaneer history.
In two years with the Bucs, Young went 3-16 as the starting quarterback. He threw for a total of 3,217 yards and 11 touchdowns to 21 interceptions. His completion percentage was south of 55 percent. But as things tend to go with Tampa Bay, he moved on to have a career full of records and achievements. In 13 years with the 49ers, Young threw for 29,907 yards and 221 touchdowns. He won three Super Bowl trophies, while being named MVP in one of them. He was a seven-time selection to the Pro Bowl, a three-time first-team All-Pro, a three-time second-team All-Pro and a two-time league MVP. Meanwhile, the Bucs struggled to find a competent signal-caller for most of their history.
This wasn’t directly the fault of Tampa Bay management or coaching. The franchise was just in a bad place performance-wise, which made things difficult for Young. He clearly had the talent, as he proved once he found a better environment for success on the West Coast. Still, it’s not a whole lot of fun to think about the fact that one of the all-time greats was once an underachieving Buccaneer.
Next: Buccaneers: Five best receivers in team history
Alright, Bucs fans. Enough talk of the disappointment. The focus is on the future, which looks to be pretty bright for Tampa Bay. But what did you think of this list? Let us know in the comments, on Twitter or on Facebook.