TampaBay Buccaneers Just Signed in a New QB
Getty Warren Sapp, the Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive tackle with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The 50th anniversary of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be celebrated in just two years. It’s been an incredible journey that has included two Super Bowl victories and protracted periods of time spent as possibly the worst team in the NFL.
The NFL draft provided the foundation for the best teams in Buccaneers history. Here are the top five first-round selections in franchise history, in anticipation of the 2024 NFL draft, which will take place in Detroit on April 25–27.
5. Grambling State quarterback Doug Williams (No. 17 overall, 1978)
As the starting quarterback for Tampa Bay for five seasons, Doug Williams was a member of the playoff team three times, with a trip to the NFC championship game in 1979. Following the 1982 season, Williams eventually left the Buccaneers for the USFL due to a disagreement over a contract with owner Hugh Culverhouse.
Joe Gibbs, the head coach of the Washington Redskins and Williams’ offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay, helped Williams eventually make a comeback to the NFL. Williams was voted Super Bowl MVP in 1987 after leading the Redskins to victory in the Super Bowl.
4. Texas A&M wide receiver Mike Evans (No. 7 overall, 2014)
In 2023, Mike Evans became the first player in NFL history to reach 1,000 receiving yards in a season for the tenth time. Evans also aided the Buccaneers in winning their second Super Bowl in 2021.
With 94 career touchdown receptions, Evans ranks No. 13 in NFL career history and is a five-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro. By the time Evans’ current contract expires in 2025, he will have earned $151.3 million in his career.
3. Oklahoman Lee Roy Selmon, DE (A total of No. 1 in 1976)
It wasn’t simply that Lee Roy Selmon was selected first overall in the 1976 NFL Draft. In the franchise’s existence, he was also the first overall selection. He was selected to the NFL 100th Anniversary Team, was a five-time NFL All-Pro, and is one of just three players on this list to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Throughout Selmon’s nine-year NFL tenure, which was entirely spent in Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers were superior to what you might imagine. From 1979 to 1982, they qualified for three postseasons in four seasons, with a trip to the NFC Championship Game in 1979—the year Selmon won NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
Selmon passed away in 2011 at the age of 56.
2. Miami’s Warren Sapp, DT (chosen 12th overall, 1995)
Warren Sapp is arguably the most well-known player in Tampa Bay history, aside from Tom Brady. And with good cause.
The gregarious Sapp was the 1999 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, a seven-time Pro Bowler, a six-time NFL All-Pro, and a member of Tampa Bay’s winning Super Bowl team in 2002. Along with linebacker Derrick Brooks, he was one of the two Pro Football Hall of Famers chosen by the Buccaneers in the first round of the 1995 NFL Draft.
1. Florida State’s Derrick Brooks, LB (No. 28 overall, 1995)
From high school through college and the NFL, Derrick Brooks played football exclusively in Florida. In 1993, he also assisted Florida State in winning its first-ever national championship.
