An NFL team can find star players in a wide variety of ways. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers squads of recent vintage, for instance, were largely built through the draft, but the team's last two starting quarterbacks came aboard via unrestricted free agency. Throughout their first half-century of football, the Buccaneers have uncovered cornerstone players with the first pick in the draft (e.g. Lee Roy Selmon, later in the first round (Derrick Brooks), in the middle rounds (John Lynch), in the late rounds (David Logan), in undrafted free agency (Cecil Johnson), in free agency (Simeon Rice) and even via trades (Joey Galloway).

Our latest group of players in the ongoing top 50 players reveal represents that wide spectrum of plyer origins. Since 1976, more than 1,200 players have worn the Tampa Bay uniform during the regular season, each arriving in his own unique way and each leaving their mark on the club's legacy. This milestone season, we're honoring that impact by naming the Top 50 Players in Buccaneers history. That list was shaped by fan voting throughout the offseason, alongside input from Tampa Bay media and team representatives. And now it is ready to be unveiled.

The Top 50 list has been determined and will be revealed over the course of 10 days, continuing on Thursday night with the players who landed in spots 30 to 21. Two of those 10 players entered the NFL as undrafted free agents. Only one was a first-round draft pick. Three were selected in Rounds Two through Four. One was a 12th-round draft pick. All ended up on the list of all-time Buccaneer greats.

We've recruited some of the players who made the list to help us share their own stories and celebrate their teammates and predecessors in a series of breakdown videos. Click here to watch the video reveal of the numbers 30-21.

30. G Ali Marpet, 2015-21

Ali Marpet was a second-round draft pick, but his roots could credibly be described as humble given that he played his college ball at Division III Hobart College, a New York school that had never before had a player drafted into the NFL and had last sent a player to the league in 1937. In addition to that mega-transition from Hobart to the Hogwarts of American football, Marpet also changed positions upon his arrival in Tampa, from left tackle to right guard. He was an immediate success, starting 29 games in his first two seasons.

Always willing to do whatever the team needed, Marpet switched to center in his third season and unfamiliar and uncomfortable position with aplomb. In 2018, the Bucs moved him one more time, to left guard, and he would started 61 games over the next four years, winning a Super Bowl ring in 2020 and going to the Pro Bowl in 2021. That Pro Bowl contest would prove to be his last NFL action, as he elected to retire after seven seasons. While his career was brief, he did appear in and start 101 games and emerged as one of the best guards in franchise history, both cerebral and hard-nosed. Like the rest of the Bucs' offensive line, he saved his best work for when it mattered the most, as Tampa Bay's front was nearly impenetrable in the 2020 run to Super Bowl victory.

29. S Cedric Brown, 1976-84

Cedric Brown was very nearly an Oakland Raider, but instead he became a cornerstone member of the first great secondary in franchise history. Drafted by the Raiders in the 12th round in 1976, Brown came to Tampa late in the 1976 after he was cut by Oakland and appeared in one game. The Bucs then traded Brown back to Oakland in 1977, only to see him get released again and come back to Tampa. This time around, he immediately landed a starting spot and opened almost every game for the next six seasons.

Brown was a ball hawk of the highest order, finishing his career with 29 interceptions, which still ranks third in team history. That included a nine-pick season in 1981 in which he racked up 215 return yards and two touchdowns. That would stand as the team's single-season record for interceptions until Rondé Barber snared 10 of them in 2001, and it's still the second-highest mark in the team's record books. Brown missed time due to injuries in his final two seasons but still started 16 of the 17 games in which he appeared. Overall, he would log 95 starts in exactly 100 career games, all for the Buccaneers and all as a part of a secondary that consistently ranked among the league's best in the late '70s and early '80s.

28. QB Brad Johnson, 2001-04

Brad "The Bull" Johnson signed with the Buccaneers in 2001, joining Simeon Rice as the greatest one-two punch in unrestricted free agency in team history. By that point he had already played seven seasons for Minnesota and Washington and had recorded one 4,000-yard passing season, one other 3,000-yard season and a Pro Bowl invitation. Just as Rice proved to be the final piece that pushed the Bucs' defense from greatness into legendary status, Johnson was just what the Bucs' offense needed to round into Super Bowl form.

After a 3,400-yard season in 2001, Johnson took his game to another level in 2002 after the arrival of Head Coach Jon Gruden and the addition of a number of new pieces on offense, including Keenan McCardell, Joe Jurevicius and Michael Pittman. Not only did he throw for 3,811 yards but he tossed 22 touchdown passes against just six interceptions, recording the lowest interception rate in the NFL. In the playoffs, he overcame a significant back injury suffered in December throw five more touchdown passes and help the Buccaneers to victory in Super Bowl XXXVII. In all, Johnson logged 49 starts for the Buccaneers, throwing for 10,940 yards and 64 touchdowns and led the team by consistently showing both physical and mental toughness.

27. WR Kevin House, 1980-86

Kevin House was the first great receiver in franchise history, a second-round draft pick in 1980 who immediately emerged as a big-play threat. As a rookie, he averaged a whopping 22.1 yards per catch and scored five touchdowns, though that all came on just 24 receptions. House proved in 1981 that he was no small-sample-size hero, averaging 21.0 yards per grab but this time on 56 catches. The result was the first 1,000-yard receiving season in franchise history, as he finished with 1,176 yards and nine touchdowns.

House was durable, as well, starting all 73 games the Bucs played form 1981-85. He cracked 1,000 yards again in 1984 and was responsible for half of the franchise's 1,000-yard receiving seasons over its first 25 years of existence. House finished his career with an average of 17.2 yards per catch, which is the best among all players in team history with at least 150 receptions. He was the team's all-time leader in receiving yards upon finishing his career in Tampa, with 4,928, and he still ranks eighth on that career list. He is also fifth in team history with 31 touchdown receptions.

26. S Antoine Winfield Jr., 2020-Present

Winfield arrived as a second-round draft pick in 2020 and wasted no time in establishing himself as one of the best young safeties in the game. He started all 16 games as a rookie and finished fourth in that season's Defensive Rookie of the Year voting after recording 94 tackles, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and one interception. In the Bucs' magical run to Super Bowl glory at the end of that season Abraham added one more interception, one more forced fumble and one unforgettable peace sign flashed in the face of Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill.

While Winfield continued to provide big plays over the next two seasons and earned a Pro Bowl invite in just his second campaign, it was in 2023 that everything came together with him and he developed into arguably the best safety in the NFL. That argument was certainly helped by him becoming the first Buccaneer safety since John Lynch to earn first-team Associated Press All-Pro honors. Winfield's stat line at the end of the 2023 season was a full-fledged masterpiece: 122 tackles, three interceptions, 12 passes defensed, an NFL-high six forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and 6.0 sacks. Already the Bucs' all-time leader among safeties with 17.0 sacks, Winfield makes an impact all over the field, whether playing centerfield or tackling running backs in the box or blitzing the quarterback out of the slot.

25. CB Donnie Abraham, 1996-2001

A year before drafting future Hall of Famer Rondé Barber in the third round of the 1997 draft, the Buccaneers made another astute decision at cornerback in the same round, nabbing Tennessee State's Donnie Abraham at number 71 overall. Abraham was an immediate hit in the Bucs' secondary, starting 12 games as a rookie and picking off five passes. Interceptions would become his calling card, as he got five more of them in 1997 before back-to-back seven-interception seasons in 1999-2000, leading the NFL in that category in 1999.

Abraham did not make the Pro Bowl after those seven picks in 1999, which included two returned for touchdowns, but he did in 2000. He led the NFL in both of those seasons in passes defensed, with a total of 48 in the two campaigns combined. Another six picks in 2001 capped his Buccaneer career with 31, which was the franchise's career record before Barber eventually claimed that crown. In all, Abraham had five or more receptions in five of his six seasons in Tampa; no other player in franchise history has had more than three such campaigns. He added three more interceptions in six playoff games with the Buccaneers.

24. DT Vita Vea, 2018-Present

Vita Vea is the biggest draft pick the Bucs have ever made. He's one of the best they've ever made, as well. Unbelievably nimble for a man of 350 pounds or so, Vea has used his immense strength to be one of the best run-stuffers in the NFL but he also has surprising pass-rush prowess for his size. Through his first seven seasons, he has racked up 30.5 sacks, which is close to cracking the Bucs' all-time top 10 in that category.

Vea is only getting better as a pass-rusher as his career matures. He's had at least 4.0 sacks in each of the last four seasons, topping out just last year at 7.0. he was rewarded last season with his second Pro Bowl invitation, an honor he also earned in 2021. After missing much of the 2020 regular season due to injury but coming back to make an impact in the playoffs, Vea has been a constant force in the middle of the Bucs' defense for the last four years, starting 71 of a possible 78 games.

23. OLB Shaquil Barrett, 2019-24

Shaquil Barrett was one of those aforementioned undrafted players who became Buccaneer stars, but he didn't start his NFL career in Tampa. Instead, he signed with the Denver Broncos out of Colorado State in 2014 and after a year on the practice squad moved into a rotational role in the team's outside linebacker corps for the next four years, recording a total of 14.0 sacks. Upon hitting free agency in 2019, Barrett chose to seek an opportunity to start somewhere else in the NFL and signed with the Buccaneers on a classic one-year "prove-it" deal.

Barrett proved it immediately. After winning that starting job easily in training camp in 2019, Barrett burst out of the gates with nine sacks in his first four games, winning NFC Defensive Player of the Month honors for his efforts. In the 2019 season finale, Barrett closed out his first Pro Bowl campaign with three sacks against the Atlanta Falcons, pushing his final season total to 19.5. Not only did that break Warren Sapp's franchise record by three sack but it also made Barrett the first player in Buccaneers history to lead the NFL in that category in a season. Barrett had another 18.0 sacks over the next two seasons and finished his Tampa Bay run with 45.0 of them, the fifth-highest total in franchise annals.

22. LB Shelton Quarles, 1997-2006

Shelton Quarles was the other undrafted free agent on this list, and like Barrett his first crack at the NFL was in another outpost. After failing to make the team with the Miami Dolphins in 1994 he headed to the Canadian Football League for two seasons and also spent time working in a printing press in his hometown of Nashville before the Bucs came calling. Quarles made sure to make his second shot at the NFL count.

After making the active roster in 1997, Quarles started out as a special teams ace, setting a still-standing single-season Buccaneers record with 31 kick-coverage tackles. He later graduated to a starting position at strongside linebacker before moving to middle linebacker in 2002 to replace Jamie Duncan. That final transition, which now kept him on the field for every defensive snap, gave Quarles a shot at stardom. He made the Pro Bowl in his first season at that spot after combining 113 tackles with two interceptions (one returned for a touchdown) and one sack. He was a linchpin in the middle of one of the greatest defenses of all time, helping the Buccaneers go all the way to victory in Super Bowl XXXVII. Quarles currently ranks fifth in team history with 985 career tackles.

21. C Tony Mayberry, 1990-99

A fourth-round draft pick out of Wake Forest in 1990, Tony Mayberry started in his very first NFL game due to an injury to center Randy Grimes, but then served as a reserve for the rest of his rookie season. That would prove to be the last time that Mayberry was excluded from the starting lineup, as he took over the center job in 1991 and proceeded to start 144 consecutive games over the next nine years.

While the Buccaneers have employed a number of standout centers over 50 seasons – including Grimes, Steve Wilson, John Wade, Jeff Faine and most recently Ryan Jensen – Mayberry is by far the most decorated of the group. He finished each of his last three seasons in the Pro Bowl; only Jensen, with one all-star appearance, is on that list. He also started all four of the team's playoff outings in 1997 and 1999 and was a key component in a rushing attack that finished fourth in the NFL in 1998. Mayberry's third Pro Bowl contest would prove to be his last game in the NFL as he retired after the 1999 season.