In the spring of 1995, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers used the 12th-overall pick to select future Hall of Fame defensive tackle Warren Sapp, but they weren't done after that selection. Not by a long shot. Later in the first round, the team traded back up into the opening round to land linebacker Derrick Brooks at number 28. Like Sapp, Brooks was bound for a bronze bust in Canton, marking one of just three times in NFL history that a team has selected two eventual Hall of Fame inductees in the same round.
And now Sapp and Brooks are bound together again as we finish off the momentous task of identifying the 50 greatest players in franchise history. Sapp landed at number three, and after Lee Roy Selmon claimed the number two spot, that left only the very top of the list for the most decorated performer in team history, Derrick Brooks.
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 being unveiled.
The Top 50 list has been revealed over the course of 10 days, concluding on Thursday night with the players who landed in spots 10 to 1. 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. We covered the first five players on that list in one post and are now devoting dedicated stories to each player who landed in the top five. At this point, any of these players could have credibly been chosen as the number-one Buccaneer of all time, including our current subject who actually claimed that honor.
1. LB Derrick Brooks, 1995-2008
In a half-century of Buccaneers football only one player has competed in more seasons and played in and started more games than Brooks, who ranks second to Rondé Barber in all three categories with 14 seasons, 224 games played and 221 starts. Like Barber, Brooks stunningly never missed a game due to injury in his career, including the 11 playoff contests the team played during his time on the roster. From 1996 through 2008, Brooks started 219 straight contests, playoffs included.
As was the case for Sapp and safety John Lynch, Brooks saw his career take off after the arrival of Tony Dungy and Monte Kiffin in 1996. He was in his first Pro Bowl at the end of the 1997 season, his third, beginning a streak of 10 straight years that ended in the league's all-star game. He made one more Pro Bowl appearance in 2008, his final season, to give him a franchise record 11, which is tied for the 16th most in NFL history.
Brooks was also named an Associated Press All-Pro in an astonishing nine straight seasons beginning in 1997, including first -team selections in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2005. While he was widely concerned one of the very best players at his position in the NFL for most of his career, Brooks peaked in 2002 when he took home the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award, joining Sapp (1999) and Selmon (1979) in landing that honor. His 170 tackles that season were just the beginning of his outsized impact on the NFL's number-one ranked defense, as he also intercepted five passes and scored four defensive touchdowns during the regular season. Head Coach Jon Gruden had challenged Brooks to score 10 on defense 10 times that season, a mark they hit on the nose when Brooks provided the "dagger" at the end of Super Bowl XXXVII with his 44-yard pick six.
Brooks ranks first in franchise history with 2,198 tackles and his 25 interceptions are the most by a non-defensive back in team annals, as well. He logged triple digits in tackles in 12 different seasons – all but his first and last campaigns – and ranked in the top six in DPOTY voting on four different occasions.
Like Selmon, Brooks had a huge impact on the Bay area community during his playing days and continuing on to the present. Brooks' combined excellence on and off the field is best represented by him being the only Buccaneer ever to win the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, perhaps the most prestigious honor bestowed on NFL players. Brooks shared that award in a tie vote with the Chicago Bears' Jim Flanigan in 2000.
In the end, it's easy to see why fans and the voting council put Derrick Brooks in the number one spot in the franchise's Top 50 Players countdown, even in the presence of such other deserving candidates as Sapp, Selmon, Barber and Mike Evans. Brooks is a Buccaneer for life, one of the best players ever at his position and an icon in his community. He is number one, and deservedly so.
