Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 15 greatest pass rushers in franchise history

Marcus Jones is another one of those players when looking back at his career with the Buccaneers, it’s difficult not to wonder how much better the defensive end’s numbers would have been if he played more than six seasons with the team.

Unfortunately, Jones was released by the Buccaneers in October 2002, although he didn’t actually play in a single game that season for Tampa Bay.

To top it off, Jones would end up joining the Buffalo Bills shortly after his release from the Buccaneers before a knee injury put an end to his season, and his NFL career in general.

As for the six years spent in Tampa Bay, Jones deserves plenty of credit for showing it’s not always about how a career starts off in the NFL, but how a player finishes. His impact was felt the most during his final three seasons with the Buccaneers.

After limited action over the first three seasons that resulted in Jones only recording one sack, his final three years saw 23 sacks, 13 of which came during the 2000 NFL season.

With the rate Jones was going, it’s easy to assume that if he stayed healthy, his final sack total with the team would have been significantly higher than 23, with a chance of landing in the top-five all-time for career sacks in Buccaneers uniform.

Playing the hypothetical card is always difficult in any professional sport, but the pace Jones was playing at during those final three seasons from 1999 to 2001 was insane to watch play out.