There is one jersey number in the 90s that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will not be issuing to a player for this year's training camp, or at any point in the future. That number: 99. It's hanging in the rafters.
As legend goes, Warren Sapp, after being drafted by the Buccaneers in 1995, wanted to wear #76, which was his number at the University of Miami. However, that jersey was already occupied by starting right tackle Scott Dill, who had worn it in Tampa for the past five seasons. An equipment manager for the team convinced Sapp to choose a different number and make it his own. Make it famously connected to his name. As that manager surely knew, #99 was something of a blank slate in team annals, having previously only been worn by three players, most notably linebacker Eugene Marve for four seasons in the late '80s and early '90s.
Whether that story is canon or apocryphal, mission accomplished. So great was Sapp's career that the Buccaneers officially retired his jersey number after he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013.
There are some other jersey numbers in the 90-99 range that have been worn by great figures in franchise history but are not retired. These are definitely not blank slates in franchise history. All of the other nine options besides 99 have been issued this year on the current roster, giving those players a chance to chase history. Jayson Jones, the current occupant of #93, is following in the footsteps of six-time Pro Bowler Gerald McCoy and Super Bowl champion Ndamukong Suh, for example. New edge rusher Al-Quadin Muhammad, coming off an 11-sack season in Detroit last year and surely hoping for double digits again, would have to do that five straight seasons to match last year's Ring of Honor inductee, Simeon Rice. DeMonte Capehart, the fifth-round rookie, inherits a #90 that was pretty recently worn with great results by Jason Pierre-Paul.
But making franchise history isn't what these nine players need to be worrying about right now. The focus at this point is much more immediate. As we have done throughout this "Camp Goals" series, which comes to its conclusion today, is go down the 91-man roster the Bucs will be taking into training camp and suggesting what might be the main focus for each player headed into a stretch of work that will determine their spots on the roster and in the team's offensive, defensive and special teams plans for 2026. The team goals for training camp are the same each summer – whittling out a 53-man roster for the regular season, determining the starting lineups and key regulars, and absorbing the offensive and defensive playbooks – but every player's situation is a little different.
The list below includes almost all the interior defensive linemen on the squad as well as a pair of edge rushers at the end.
#90 DL DeMonte Capehart: The Bucs knew that Capehart was a strong edge-setter against the run as a 3-4 end when they tabbed him out of Clemson in the fifth round in April, but they also thought he had some untapped potential as a pass-rusher. His testing numbers, including a 4.85-second 40-yard dash at 313 pounds, plus some of his tape suggested the ability to get up the field when given the chance, though he wasn't asked to do that much at Clemson. Since it's quite rare for any player drafted in the first five rounds not to make the regular season roster as a rookie, it's a good bet he will accomplish that goal. What training camp for him is likely to be more about is seeing how much playing time he can carve out in a D-Line group that is suddenly very deep, with a lot of veteran presence. Demonstrating that stoutness in the run and taking advantage of opportunities to get up the field could earn him a solid spot in the rotation.
#91 DL A'Shawn Robinson: Robinson was a cap casualty this offseason in Carolina and the Buccaneers didn't wait long to take advantage of his sudden availability. Team administrators made it quite clear that they were looking to add both size and a nasty demeanor to their defense this offseason, and Robinson was the first move in that direction. The 6-3, 320-pound defender has started 69 games over the past five seasons for the Rams, Giants and Panthers and he is well-known for his intense approach on the field and for setting a tone for the players around him. He is expected to start in three-man fronts with Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey and camp will be an excellent opportunity for that trio to build chemistry and learn each other's tendencies when it comes to the pass rush. While he's new to the team in 2026, Robinson is a respected veteran presence and will probably look to establish himself as one of the team's leaders this summer.
#92 DL Elijah Simmons: The Bucs signed Simmons off the Cardinals' practice squad last September as a reaction to losing Kancey to injured reserve. An undrafted rookie out of Tennessee in 2025, Simmons subsequently saw action in nine games for Tampa Bay and recorded six tackles, one for a loss. The second-year player is a wide load at 6-1 and 335 pounds and he could find a role in the D-Line rotation as an early-down run-stopper. Vita Vea played a career-high 73% of the Bucs' defensive snaps last season, even while dealing with a recurring foot ailment, and the team might be looking to streamline his workload a little bit to keep the two-time Pro Bowler at his peak. Simmons is a candidate to take nose tackle snaps when Vea is off the field and will go into his first Buccaneers training camp looking to demonstrate that he should have that role, especially with veteran Greg Gaines no longer on the roster
#93 DL Jayson Jones: Jones is another candidate for that exact same role, as the primary replacement at nose tackle when Vea needs a breather. Like Simmons, Jones entered the league last year as an undrafted free agent on another NFL team, and the Bucs liked what they saw on his preseason tape with the Ravens. When Jones was waived in the roster cutdown to 53 the Buccaneers quickly signed him to their practice squad and he impressed early on. Unfortunately, he suffered a torn biceps in practice in September and landed on injured reserve for the rest of the season. Thus, like Simmons, this will be his first training camp in Tampa but he could realistically have as his goal going in a shot at the active roster in the regular season. The Bucs are bringing a whopping 11 defensive linemen into camp this year, and that includes such established veterans as Vea, Robinson, Kancey and Rakeem Nunez-Roches plus a pair of recent fifth-round draft picks in Elijah Roberts (2025) and Capehart (2026). Still, the team carried six down linemen for much of last season and there should be plenty of competition at that position throughout training camp. In addition, it's worth noting that the Buccaneers started last season with four out of their 16 practice squad spots going to defensive linemen, so that is a reasonable secondary goal for both Jones and Simmons and a great way to get an NFL career going.
#94 DL Calijah Kancey: We don't have to guess at Kancey's goal for the 2026 season because he spelled out plainly this spring: Play 17 games. "My main goal is to play every game," he said. "That's my main goal. No stats, no nothing – just play every game. Be ready to play every game." So one goal for camp, obviously, is to train and practice in a manner that minimizes his chances of getting hurt before the season even begins. The 19th-overall pick in the 2023 draft, Kancey has absolutely shown the pass-rushing ability the Bucs coveted with that pick, recording 11.5 sacks and 30 QB hits in 29 games. The problem, of course, is that there were 51 regular season games for the Bucs in his first three seasons, meaning he has missed 43% of them, including 14 of 17 last year. The team still expects him to have a full, breakout season, as evidenced by the fact that they did pick up his fifth-year option for 2027 this spring. As we can see above, Kancey is not setting any statistical goals for this season, but if he can meet the availability goal there's no reason he couldn't be the first interior defensive linemen with double-digit sacks for the Bucs since Warren Sapp.
#95 DL Elijah Roberts: In terms of snap count, Roberts was the primary beneficiary of the void created by Kancey's early-season injury last fall. A fifth-round rookie, Roberts ended up starting nine games and logging a total of 503 defensive snaps, which was nearly half of the team's total.Though the statistical output wasn't outrageous – 14 tackles, 2.0 sacks and five QB hits – he impressed enough as a rookie to head into his second camp with a shot at once again earning a significant role, even with the team's additions at the position. He was one of the nation's best interior pass rushers at SMU during his collegiate days and the Buccaneers, like any team, highly value players who can disrupt the pocket coming up the middle. Roberts goals in his second camp should be to build on the foundation he laid as a rookie and keep his career on an upward trajectory.
#96 DL Josiah Green: Green is one of just two rookies in the Bucs' current 11-man D-Line room, along with Deshawn McKnight, and both were undrafted free agent signings in May. Green had 3.5 sacks and some strong underlying pass rush numbers in his one season at Duke, and his best asset is a quick first step. At 6-0 and 284 pounds he is essentially the same size as Kancey, who entered the NFL with some external concerns about how he would stand up against the run. Kancey has allayed those concerns and shown that he can be a three-down, two-way player when healthy. In pursuit of the main camp goal of any young player – earn a spot on either the active roster or the practice squad, Green could have as an ancillary goal his development as a run stopper. This will probably be easier to demonstrate in the three preseason games than in camp practices. The Buccaneers reportedly had high interest in Green and considered taking him in the draft (those chances went down when they traded their seventh-round pick to move up to take Bauer Sharp), so if he can show some flashes of potential as a three-down defender that would likely convince the Buccaneers to keep him around.
#97 OLB Al-Quadin Muhammad: Muhammad was an important part of the Bucs' shopping in the early hours of free agency. After trying but ultimately failing to ramp up their edge rush in 2025, the Bucs went even harder at that goal this offseason with the additions of Muhammad, Rueben Bain and several interior linemen. Muhammad is coming off an 11-sack outburst for the Lions last year, in a season in which he did not start a single game. Given that his previous season high in the NFL was 6.0 sacks, Muhammad will surely be looking to demonstrate that last season was not simply a one-year spike in his production. Given that the Bucs will be rotating what they hope is a deeper crew of edge rushers this year, it's not necessarily important who starts opposite Yaya Diaby between Muhammad and Bain, but Muhammad could be interested in showing that he can handle a higher snap count and remain very productive. He played just 41.0% of the snaps for the Lions last year.
#98 OLB Anthony Nelson: Nelson has been a very steady contributor for the Buccaneers since being drafted in the fourth round in 2019, twice earning new contracts to stick around. He has finished each of the last five years with between 3.0 and 5.5 sacks, has missed only three games in that span and has always been heavily involved in special teams. Last year he played 41% of the team's defensive snaps and 72% of the special teams snaps. He has also shown a knack for saving his biggest plays for the most crucial moments. The Bucs know exactly what they have in Nelson and clearly value it, and if he is on the active roster again in 2026 there is little doubt he will have a big role on special teams. What could be a goal for him in camp is to show that, even with the new additions to the OLB room, he remains an important part of the edge rush rotation.
