Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 30 greatest players in franchise history

Yes, I know Martin Gramatica was a kicker, but he was arguably the best kicker in Buccaneers history. No team has success, especially playoff success and a Super Bowl victory, without a clutch kicker. Gramatica was that and more for the Buccaneers teams of the early 2000s.

To understand how great Gramatica was you cannot simply look at his stats. Although, his stats do paint a fairly accurate picture of how talented he was. During his first season, the Argentine kicker set a career best with his 84.4 percent conversion rate. If you look at the fine print, he had two seasons with 100 percent marks, but they were seasons in which he only attempted one and five field goals, respectively.

His best season overall however came in 2002, conveniently when the team went on to win the Super Bowl. Gramatica made 32 of his 39 field goals and nailed all 32 of his extra points attempts. Talk about clutch. To cap it all off, Gramatica proved he could do it on the biggest stage, as he had two field goals in the Super Bowl.

Kickers are oftentimes underappreciated for their efforts, and typically receive a lot of blame for missing field goals. During his six seasons, Gramatica established himself as one of the best kickers in team history. He may have fallen off towards the end of his stay, but fans will always remember him for his efforts in the 2002 season. Also, he still is the franchise’s all-time leading scorer. Needless to say, he was pretty good.