Last week, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers concluded their three-day minicamp and thus capped off their entire offseason training program. Coaches and players have scattered to the wind for one last extended and well-deserved break before training camp. When they return, the 2025 season will be just around the corner, and it's a very noteworthy season at that. The Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks started play in 1976 as the 27th and 28th NFL franchises, respectively and will be playing the 50th seasons in their respective histories. As we celebrate the Buccaneers' 50th season this year with a look back at the past 49 seasons plus a glimpse at the what he next 50 may hold, we are highlighting some of the best games, seasons and careers in franchise history.
Today, our focus is on interceptions. A couple weeks ago, we looked at the top interception *seasons* in Bucs history, but now we're turning our attention to career totals. Of course, the same player is at the top of both lists, but the five names below span most of team history and even includes one player who is not a defensive back. There are two Hall of Famers on the list, as well as some of the more underrated and unsung heroes in the Bucs' first half-century of play.
It's not exactly Cy Young's 511 wins or Wilt Chamberlain's 50-points-per-game season, but Rondé Barber's team record, described below, is likely to stand the test of time as one of the most "unbreakable" standards in franchise history. For one thing, only the smallest handful of players can last 16 seasons and play at a high level the entire way. For another, interceptions across the league have dwindled in the past couple decades.
In 1978 there were 639 interceptions in the NFL across 224 regular-season games, or 2.85 per game. In 1988, there were 553, or 2.47 per game. In 1998, the total was still 509 in 240 games, or 2.12 per contest. In 2008 it was 465 in 256 games, an average of 1.81 per game, and in 2018 it was down to 1.64 per game. Last year? There were 387 interceptions in 272 games, an average of 1.42 per game that was the lowest in league history. It's no wonder that no Buccaneer has had even a five-interception season since Lavonte David in 2013. All of which makes Barber's record all the more impressive, and likely unassailable.
The Five Buccaneers with the Most Interceptions in Franchise History
- Rondé Barber, 47 interceptions, 1997-2012
A third-round draft pick in 1997, Barber barely played as a rookie, seeing action in just one regular-season game before finally emerging as the nickel back in the playoffs. As such, his first season was a blank in terms of interceptions. He started to gain regular playing time in 1998, however, and was entrenched as a starter by 1999. He began building his interception resume with two each in '98, '99 and '00.
Then Barber exploded in 2001, snaring 10 interceptions to tie for the league lead and set a franchise single-season record that has never been touched since. That earned him the first of his five Pro Bowl nods, as well as the first of three Associated Press first-team All-Pro selections. He also received that honor in 2004 and 2005 and was a second-team choice in 2002 and 2006.
Barber also had a knack for turning those interceptions into instant points. He finished his career with eight pick-sixes in the regular season, accounting for the largest chunk of his 14 non-offensive touchdowns, which ranks fourth in NFL history. That doesn't even include his most famous pick-six, the 92-yarder that shut down Veterans Stadium in the 2002 NFC Championship Game and sent the Buccaneers to their first Super Bowl. Barber also had another interception that he took to the house in those '02 playoffs, against San Francisco, but the score was erased by a post-turnover penalty on a teammate.
Barber may have spiked with the biggest interception season in team history, but he holds the career record thanks to his longevity and consistency. Other than the aforementioned rookie year and the 2009 campaign, he had at least two picks in every season in his career. He even capped his illustrious career with four interceptions in 2012 after switching to safety.
Barber took over the top spot on the Bucs' career interception chart on November 25, 2007, with a fourth-quarter pick that preserved the lead in a 19-13 win over Washington. That was number 32. In 2010, he got to 40 picks, becoming the first 40-interception, 25-sack player in NFL history when he victimized San Francisco's Troy Smith.
- Donnie Abraham, 31 interceptions, 1996-2001
Abraham arrived in Tampa just one season before Barber, and unlike his teammate he immediately started putting up big interception numbers. His five picks in 1996 tied David Greenwood's 1985 total for the most by a rookie in team history, a shared record that still stands. Greenwood never had another interception in the NFL after his rookie season; Abraham definitely did.
In fact, he had another five picks in his second campaign, 1997, before getting just one in 1998. After that, Abraham strung together seven, seven and six interceptions in his last three seasons with the Buccaneers. His seven picks in 1999 tied for the NFL lead, as did his two pick-sixes that year. He is the only player in Bucs history with even four seasons with five interceptions, let alone five. His three seasons with six-plus interceptions is also a team record, as are his two seasons with seven-plus picks.
Surprisingly, Abraham made just one Pro Bowl, in the 2000 season after he had seven interceptions and a league-high 23 passes defensed. He finished his career with three seasons with the New York Jets from 2002-04, increasing his overall career total to 38 interceptions. He added three interceptions in the postseason, two in 1997 and one in 2000.
Though he would eventually get chased down by Barber, Abraham became the Buccaneers' career interception leader on December 16, 2001. In a 27-3 loss to Chicago, he set up the Bucs' only score with a second-quarter pick off Bears quarterback Jim Miller. Abraham got his 31st and final Buccaneer interception in his last game with the team, off Eagles rookie A.J. Feeley.
- Cedric Brown, 29 interceptions, 1976-84
Brown originally held two Buccaneer interception records that now belong to Barber. His nine interceptions in 1981 were the team's single-season mark for two decades before Barber had his 10-pick campaign in 2001. In addition, Brown was the franchise's all-time leader in career interceptions until Abraham passed him (also in 2001) and then Barber lapped them both.
Brown was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the 12th round in 1976 but ended up in Tampa as a rookie, only seeing action in one game. He was then traded back to the Raiders in 1977 but quickly came back to the Buccaneers after he was released by Oakland and ended up starting all 14 games at safety for Tampa Bay that season. That's when he notched his first two interceptions.
In 1978, Brown tripled that total, picking off six passes, which at the time broke Mike Washington's short-lived team record of five set in 1977. He then topped his own mark with that nine-pick campaign in 1981, returning two of them for touchdowns and racking up 215 interception return yards overall. Surprisingly, none of those figures led the league.
Brown played his whole nine-year career as a Buccaneer and was a key figure in the team's first great defense, which ranked first in the league in 1979. He was hampered by injuries his last three seasons, however, not playing more than nine games in any of them. Otherwise, his final interception total would probably have been a bit higher. Still, he remains in third place in franchise history.
- Mike Washington, 28 interceptions, 1976-84
Washington played the exact same nine seasons as Brown and was another key cog in a very strong secondary that also featured safety Mark Cotney and cornerback Jeris White. Washington originally entered the NFL as a third-round draft pick by the Baltimore Colts in 1975, but he spent his rookie season on injured reserve and was then traded to the Buccaneers in 1976 for a third-round pick.
Washington didn't have any interceptions in the Bucs' inaugural 1976 season but then put together back-to-back five-pick campaigns in 1977 and 1978. He had multiple interceptions in seven straight seasons, peaking at six for the 1981 squad that also featured Washington's nine-interception season. As a team, Tampa Bay intercepted 32 passes that year.
Washington also missed significant time in his last three seasons or he too likely would have passed the 30-pick mark in Tampa. In fact, in his final season he played just one game, sustaining a head injury in the season opener. At the end of the 1983 season, he was actually tied with Brown for the most interceptions in franchise history, but Brown played eight more games than he did in 1984 and tallied one final interception to take the lead. Washington had briefly held the franchise lead at 26 after the 1982 season.
- Derrick Brooks, 25 interceptions, 1995-2008
The only non-defensive back on the Bucs' top-five list of interceptors, Brooks was one of the best pass-defending linebackers of his era in the NFL. He was voted into the Hall of Fame in 2014, his first-year of eligibility.
Brooks' most famous interception doesn't even count on this list, as he had the "dagger" (as described by broadcast legend Gene Deckerhoff) of a 44-yard pick-six to clinch the Bucs' 48-21 win over the Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII. That was one of two interceptions Brooks had during the Bucs' championship playoff run that year.
In regular season play, Brooks had at least one interception in 12 of his 14 NFL seasons, all with the Buccaneers. He had three or more picks in four different campaigns, with four in 1999, three in 2001, five in 2002 and three in 2006. The peak was his incredible 2002 season that earned him NFL Defensive Player of the Year award, when he returned three of his five picks for touchdowns during the regular season to lead the NFL. Overall, with the Super Bowl included, Brooks scored five defensive touchdowns during the 2002 campaign.
Two other interceptions by Brooks during that 2002 season fell into the "game-clincher" category. In Week Two he had a 97-yard pick six against Baltimore that preserved a shutout win over the Ravens, and the very next weekend he famously reentered the game after leaving with a hamstring injury and promptly took a Kurt Warner pass to the house in a 26-14 final. With the game almost over, Brooks ran straight through the south end zone at Raymond James Stadium and into the tunnel to head to the Bucs' locker room.
Brooks is not only fifth on the team's career interception list, he's the only non-defensive back in the top 10. Fellow Hall of Famer John Lynch is sixth with 23 picks, and a pair of cornerbacks (Brian Kelly and Aqib Talib) and a pair of safeties (Harry Hamilton and Mark Cotney) round out the list
