Which Buccaneers Hall of Fame Defender is Best of All-Time?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have five players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and all of them are from the defensive side of the ball.

Linebacker Derrick Brooks, safety John Lynch, cornerback Ronde Barber, and defensive tackle Warren Sapp represent a more modern time of Buccaneers football.

Meanwhile, defensive lineman Lee Roy Selmon was the one Hall of Famer who preceded them all, and according to 33rd Team, is the best of all-time.

“The first of their superb defensive players, Lee Roy Selmon, made his game-wrecking mark despite spending his first 26 pro games on the losing side,” says 33rd Team’s Barry Wilner. “By his third NFL season, the Buccaneers were making a turnaround, and he was considered among the top defensive linemen in the sport. He made six consecutive Pro Bowls and in 1979 was the Defensive Player of the Year.”

Selmon played nine years for the Bucs from 1976-84 and went to the Pro Bowl six times while making one First Team All-Pro list.

In total, he played 121 games and was one of the better defenders in the league all the way up to his retirement in 1986 after missing the previous season trying to recover from an injury sustained in the 1984 Pro Bowl.

After his career was over Selmon’s No. 63 was retired by the team in 1986 and he was inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor in 2009.

Selmon was the first Tampa Bay defender to go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and three more (Brooks, Sapp, Lynch) have been enshrined since with another (Barber) selected and awaiting his date of enshrinement which is coming August 5th of this year.

The five players represent some of the best days in Buccaneers football.

And with any luck of continued health, some of the current Bucs may be on their own paths to joining them.

Perhaps even one on the offensive side of the ball.

Find David Harrison on Twitter @DHarrison82

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