Warren Sapp

Warren Carlos Sapp (born December 19, 1972) is an American former football defensive tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

He played college football for the Miami Hurricanes, winning the Lombardi Award, Bronko Nagurski Trophy, and Bill Willis Trophy as a junior.

During the late 1980s, he was honored for outstanding football play at Apopka High School in Apopka, Florida at linebacker, tight end, place-kicker and punter.

He holds school records for sacks, tackles for a loss, and longest field goal.

A two-sport athlete in high school, he also played on the basketball team as a power forward.

In high school football, his hard tackle of Johnny Damon in a game against Dr. Phillips High School team gave the future major league baseball star a concussion.

He converted to defensive lineman and in 1994 won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy (for best defensive player), the Lombardi Award (for best lineman or linebacker), and the Bill Willis Award (for best defensive lineman).

As a junior at Miami in 1994, he had 84 tackles and led the Hurricanes in sacks with 10.5 sacks.

He also finished sixth in Heisman Trophy voting that year.

Warren [Sapp] has the power of a Cortez Kennedy and the quickness of a Russell Maryland.

Sapp was selected by the Buccaneers in the first round of 1995 NFL draft.

He spent nine seasons with the Buccaneers and was a member of the Oakland Raiders in his last four seasons.

Ahead of the 1995 NFL draft, Sapp ran the fastest time in the 40-yard dash for a defensive tackle (4.69 sec).

Sapp was considered a potential top five or 10 pick, but due to reports of multiple failed cocaine and marijuana tests released the night before the draft, many teams passed on him.

He compiled 96.5 career sacks by the time of his retirement, which are the third-highest career sacks for a defensive tackle and the 28th-highest overall for a defensive lineman.

His career, however, was also checkered by controversy from his hard-hitting style of play and occasional verbal outbursts.

Along with Lee Roy Selmon and teammate Derrick Brooks, Sapp is one of three players to have his number retired by the Buccaneers.

He registered 51 tackles and nine sacks in 1996, and 58 tackles and 10.5 sacks in 1997.

His Pro Bowl selection in 1997 was the first of seven straight.

In 1998, he signed a contract extension paying $36 million over six years.

He was honored as NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1999.

In 2002, the Bucs led the league in defense and won Super Bowl XXXVII over the Oakland Raiders.

Sapp made five tackles and two sacks during that postseason.

On November 24, 2002, at Raymond James Stadium, Sapp was strongly criticized for a blindside hit on the Green Bay Packers' Chad Clifton.

The hit occurred during a Buccaneers interception return, when Sapp hit Clifton as the latter was jogging downfield, away from the main action.

The hit inflicted a severe pelvic injury and hospitalized Clifton for almost a week, after which he could not walk unaided for the next five weeks.

In 2005, the NFL Competition Committee agreed on new guidelines for "unnecessary roughness", making hits such as Sapp's on Clifton illegal.

In an exchange caught by television cameras following the game, Packers coach Mike Sherman approached Sapp and said to him, "That was a chickenshit play."

In 2007, Sapp was named to the Florida High School Association All-Century Team comprising the top 33 players in a hundred years of high school football in his home state.

Many top nationally ranked college football programs recruited Sapp and he played at the University of Miami for the Hurricanes, where he was a defensive standout.

He was ultimately selected 12th overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round.

The NFL released a statement strongly denying the rumors and Sapp believed an anonymous individual attempted to intentionally sabotage his draft chances.

Sapp was almost immediately given the starting job as the right defensive tackle, which he held for his entire nine-year stay in Tampa.

He flourished in the Tampa 2 defense, which included teammates Derrick Brooks and John Lynch.

With his devastating combination of size and speed, he was able to disrupt opposing offenses even when double- or even triple-teamed on the line.

He finished his rookie season with 27 tackles and one interception and continued to be a prolific tackler for the Buccaneers.

He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013 in his first year of eligibility.

Sapp was born in Orlando, Florida, and raised in Plymouth, Florida, by a single mother.

Following his NFL career, he was an analyst on NFL Network until 2015.

With Tampa Bay, Sapp made seven Pro Bowl appearances, earned first-team All-Pro honors four times, and was part of the team that won the franchise's first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XXXVII.