The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may not have the rich history of other NFL franchises but we have our fair sure of legendary moments. Two Superbowl Championships, one of the greatest defenses of all time, and a good handful of Hall of Fame players. A list of Tampa legends consist of guys like ;
Lee Roy Selmon
Warren Sapp
Derrick Brooks
Ronde Barber
John Lynch
Doug Williams
Mike Alstott
Hardy Nickerson
Simeon Rice
ETC.
And I want to pay homage to those guys for being a part of our history. They paved the way in our franchise and were bright spots even when the team itself wasn't so bright. (aside from the jerseys - they were always bright).

When you talk about being THE BEST though, you have to pardon some of these names from the conversation, respectfully. So I would like to bring my personal top 3 candidates for the best Buccaneer EVER. Those three names will be none other than
Mr. Derrick Brooks
Mike Evans
Lavonte David
CANDIDATE 1: Derrick Brooks is the All-Time leader in tackles for the Bucs and top 10 for the NFL. Derrick Brooks was an Iconic player across the league and recorded 12 straight seasons with 100+ tackles. He also has 25 interceptions and 13.5 sacks. He was the most consistent and exciting part of this legendary defense that carried us to our first championship. Nostalgia hits hardest when you watch the clip of Derrick Brooks returning an interception for a touchdown to seal the deal against the Raiders in the Battle of the Bays in 2002. Nothing beats the first time - am I right? That's just a piece of his greatness and there is plenty more ( he returned 3 other interceptions for touchdowns that season as well)
Mr. Derrick Brooks was also a legend in the community. It seemed he was always hosting events to give back or shooting commercials with local small businesses. Even hosting youth football camps. Regardless if he is the BEST BUC or not - He will always be a legend to Tampa and those around him.
CANDIDATE 2: Mike Evans was drafted in 2014 with the 7th overall pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Who knew that a decade later he would have cemented himself as the best offensive player in Bucs history but also breaking records along the way. The one knock on Evans is that during his reign of elite consistency he may have never been considered the best or even top 3 wide receivers at any given moment. But he is top 1 for the Bucs. By the end of this season Evans will undoubtedly be top 10 all time in receiving touchdowns. The names above him currently are guys like Tim Brown and Tony Gonzalez. If Mike reels in another 1K yard season he will also be on the fringe of breaking the top 20 in yards as well.
Mike Evans has been the definition of consistency for the Bucs since his rookie year and he has competed at this level while having to catch passes from these quarterbacks.
Mike Glennon
Josh McCown
Jameis Winston
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Then it got a little better when the Bucs managed to sign Tom Brady. This allowed Mike Evans and the rest of the team to bring Tampa their second Superbowl Championship. So not only does Mike Evans have the numbers and consistency to stack up with other greats, he has some hardware too.
CANDIDATE 3: Lavonte David was a 2nd round pick in the 2012 draft. The Bucs traded up to snag their guy out of Nebraska. He is now the longest tenured Buc on the roster and hasn't shown many signs of regression. Although he plays a similar position to Derrick Brooks the game has shown some changes over time. He now joins Derrick Brooks as the only other Buc with 1500 tackles. I will share why the argument can be had that LVD54 could very well be the BEST BUC.
Since the stat has been tracked - David is top 10 all time in Tackles for Loss(162). The key thing here is that he is the only Inside/off ball linebacker in the top 10. Other names on the list include Aaron Donald(176) and Von Miller(167). This is an impressive feat. The closest off ball linebacker would be Brian Urlacher(138). For comparison-Derrick Brooks has 68 and the stat wasn't tracked for his first 4 seasons. If you give him his best number for each of those years his total would be 124.
David is also top 5 in sacks in Buc history with 35.5 (and counting). Brooks has 13.5. So where Brooks had a larger impact was the interceptions - LVD was better at disrupting the offense behind the line of scrimmage. I know people will argue that turnovers are better than tackles or sacks and I would agree to an extent. David has 30 forced fumbles so far in his career. I will compare the numbers below for one Buc legend to another. Also keep in mind that David's stats will continue to rise as his career is currently still active.
TACKLES:
DB - 1713
LVD - 1509
TACKLE FOR LOSS:
LVD - 162
DB - 124 (not exact)
SACKS:
LVD - 35.5
DB- 13.5
INTERCEPTIONS:
DB - 25
LVD - 12
FORCED FUMBLES:
LVD - 30
DB - 24
Lavonte David leads in 3 of the 5 Categories and is still playing. I don't want to take anything away from Derrick Brooks and his legacy I just want to make sure Lavonte David gets the recognition he deserves.
So Tampa Bay, who would be your selection for the Bay's BEST BUC? Please let me know by commenting or reaching out on Facebook. I appreciate the time you took to join me today. GO BUCS!
Huge thanks to https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ for the numbers.
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