Former Buccaneers lineman explains why Steve Young was hard to pass block for

For years the Tampa Bay Buccaneers carried around more than a few frustrating scars of the past. Most of them still exist, but the franchise turning its luck around into two Super Bowl titles helped soothe some of the pain.

One of those scars is the fact that Hall of Famer Steve Young spent some time with the Buccaneers before he went on to change the game and win Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers. His time in Tampa Bay feels like a blip on the radar, but the guys who played with him -- like former center Randy Grimes -- have never forgotten what it was like.

Former Bucs lineman explains why Steve Young was hard to block for

Grimes, who spent his entire 10-year career with the Bucs, spent one of his teams in Tampa Bay blocking for the future Hall of Famer. It's a chapter in the team's history that is easier to look back on now than it was then considering what Young would go on to do after he left Tampa Bay and headed west to San Francisco.

It's one in a many string of What-Ifs, but another example of a great player simply not being in the right place at the right time.

"When he came to us, we just didn't have the talent around him to make him how he was in San Francisco" Grimes admitted.

Despite the lack of talent around him, Grimes noted that it never stopped Young from trying to become the quarterback the Buccaneers needed -- or the Hall of Famer he'd eventually become. Young was so mobile and determined to make plays that it made it hard for his offensive line to block for him.

"The one thing I loved about Steve is that he was always trying to make something big happen," Grimes said. "It made it hard for us to pass block for him because he was never where he was supposed to be. He was never seven steps back, he was always outside of the pocket trying to make a play happen."

A lot gets made about Tom Brady and the bar he set that so many quarterbacks will try to reach, but he's not the only Buccaneers quarterback who helped usher the game in a new direction. Young wasn't in Tampa Bay long, but the type of quarterback he was helped lay the foundation for so many mobile quarterbacks who came after him.

Hopefully, for the sake of today's offensive lineman, quarterbacks like Young are a little easier to block for.

Randy Grimes spoke on behalf of Stratosphere ATC.

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