3 best Buccaneers players Bobby Bowden coached at FSU
By Rob Leeds
![Bobby Bowden, college coach that impacted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers [Kelly Jordan, Florida Times-Union]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2Fcad3faf8b32d825dd1350a8c90793e8a75d2086aec740fac2cb5c8a4a0a80b7c.jpg "Bobby Bowden, college coach that impacted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers [Kelly Jordan, Florida Times-Union]")
The Buccaneers would have been a very different franchise without Bobby Bowden. The football world will miss him greatly.
Regardless of the college football team you support, the football world lost an all-time great today in Bobby Bowden. Bowden leaves a legacy that is hard to follow for any coach at any level, and his impact goes far beyond FSU.
During his record-setting years at Florida State, Bowden helped cultivate unparalleled levels of NFL talent, and the Buccaneers were one of the biggest beneficiaries of Bowden’s coaching.
The Bucs franchise would look very different today without the legacy of greatness that Bowden leaves behind.
It’s hard to find coaches that were so universally loved by their players and peers, but Bowden exemplified that to the letter.
While today is a day of mourning, there is also an opportunity to celebrate the legacy that Bowden leaves behind.
Coaches like Bobby Bowden will live on forever not just through their records, although those are impressive, but through their players. And Bobby Bowden certainly lives on through the following players that accomplished so much for and with the Buccaneers.
Buccaneers great Derrick Brooks coached by Bobby Bowden
If you want to take all of the players for the Buccaneers over the years and rank them, no one comes above Brooks.
Brooks is one of those players that leaves a legacy that will be hard to top for any player. Even as the season lengths change and the game begins to evolve, Brooks stands atop the list of all Buccaneers forever.
As a leader, an individual player, a Hall of Famer, and a Super Bowl champion, Brooks is in a class of his own.
The Buccaneers would’ve never been in a position to win the Super Bowl if it wasn’t for players like Brooks, and Bucs fans can forever thank Bowden for setting up the most outstanding player in franchise history to lead the team.
As the greatest Buccaneer of all time, there is no better player to exemplify what Bobby Bowden was about than Derrick Brooks.