It's possible, if not likely, that Rondé Barber's 92-yard pick six in the 2002 NFC Championship Game will be voted by fans as the top moment in franchise history in the next couple days. It is currently one half of the final matchup as an initial list of 64 moments has been pared down to just two. Clearly Buccaneer fans also appreciate the entire weight of Barber's 16-year career, as he is the first name revealed in the final five of our Top 50 countdown, as well.
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 came at #5.
5. CB Rondé Barber, 1997-2012
Barber has one of the most complete resumes of any candidate for the top player in Buccaneer annals: longevity, toughness, sustained high level of play and incredible peak moments. Those aspects have already combined to make him a Pro Football Hall of Famer, an honor bestowed on him as part of the Class of 2023. He is also in the Buccaneers' Ring of Honor at Raymond James Stadium.
Barber has certainly done more than any other player in team history. He is the only one to play 16 seasons for the franchise and his 241 career games and 232 career starts are both franchise records. Barber literally never missed a game due to injury and at one point became the first and still only player in league annals to start 200 straight games at cornerback.
Barber's signature statistic underscores how many different ways he could impact a game, as with 47 career interceptions and 28.0 career sacks he is the only player in NFL history to top 40 interceptions and 25 sacks. He also ranks fourth in league history with 14 non-offensive touchdowns and was able to score in four different ways: interception return, fumble return, punt return and return of a blocked punt.
Barber set a single-season team record that still stands with 10 interceptions in 2001, earning the first of his three first-team selections to the Associated Press All-Pro team. He was also a second-team selection in two other seasons and made five total Pro Bowls. In 2007 he was seventh in the voting for the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award. He was named to the NFL's All-Decade Team for the 2010s.
Barber ranks first in team history in interceptions and third with 1,428 tackles, the highest number on record for an NFL cornerback. Passes defensed and tackles for loss weren't reliably tracked during his first two seasons but from 1998 on he rang up 197 passes defensed and 88 tackles for loss. His career marks also include 15 forced fumbles and 12 fumble recoveries.
And, of course, he also left behind a rich playoff history, appearing in 10 games and contributing 44 tackles, 1.0 sack, two interceptions, 13 passes defensed and two forced fumbles. His shining moment was that 2002 NFC Championship Game in Philadelphia, in which he combined three tackles with one sack, one interception, one forced fumble and four passes defensed. With the Eagles threatening to stage a comeback in the fourth quarter, Barber silenced the Philadelphia sideline and the Veterans Stadium crowd by picking off Donovan McNabb and returning it 92 yards for a touchdown to send the Buccaneers to their first Super Bowl.
