BUCPOWER.COM
Every player, every game and every detail in Buccaneer history
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THE 50 WORST-EVER BUCCANEERS
as featured on this site in 2004
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| 1 |  Booker Reese
Serious Buc fans knew there was no real question over who would be No.1 in our countdown. Because no player summed up the Bucs' futility at times than Booker Reese. The story behind his selection summed up the chaos in the front office, let alone the fact that he was never ever worth the price the Bucs paid for him. But the whole story of his demise in life is a sad one in too many ways.
Click here for his profile |
| 2 |  Vinny Testaverde
I know this choice is going to cause some controversy as the past decade has made people forget how bad Vinny was with the Bucs. For the No.1 overall selection in the 1987 draft, Vinny never honestly won more than a handful of games for Tampa Bay and cost us a whole bunch more. His numbers were poor, his attitude was often poor and he bolted at the first opportunity to become a back-up to Bernie Kosar in Cleveland than battle for the No.1 job with Craig Erickson in 1993.Click here for his profile |
| 3 |  Alvin Harper
The best description of Harper can only be "Keyshawn Johnson's attitude and mouth but without his ability to catch the football". Alvin was the big free agent available in 1995 and Sam Wyche quickly snapped him up to a big contract. But he had been made to look good by Michael Irvin in Dallas and he failed spectacularly in Tampa but tried to blame everybody else but himself for his failings. Without a doubt, the worst free agency move the Bucs have ever made.Click here for his profile |
| 4 |  Charles McRae
This is a really tough inclusion for Bucs UK members as Charles has long been a friend of our club, but his presence at No.4 on this list cannot be denied. McRae was our first pick in 1991, the 7th overall selection and the first offensive player drafted that year. And was a total bust. He was just too nice a guy to play offensive tackle in the NFL and even a switch to guard didn't help. He started only 38 games in Tampa before retiring home to Tennessee with his family. Click here for his profile |
| 5 |  Kenyatta Walker
Well we had to have our old friend Kenyatta in the top 10 somewhere didn't we? Without a doubt, the most unpopular player on the current roster. Every time there is a flag on the offensive line, you just know it's going to be on No.67. Holding, hands to the face, false start, personal foul, he doesn't discriminate in his choice of ways to hurt the team. And he was a first round pick too that we traded up to acquire in 2001. Click here for his profile |
| 6 |  Rod Jones
When it comes to terrible Buccaneer cornerbacks, one name stands out above all the others - Rod Jones. A 1986 first-round pick, the same as Bo Jackson, perhaps we would have been better off is Jones had not played for us either. He was burned more often than a bad cook and never played anywhere near his draft status. Every time you see an opposing TD from the late 1980s, you can bet your house on who was "covering" him. Click here for his profile |
| 7 |  Bert Emanuel
Now we are getting to the really bad draft picks and free agent signings from franchise history. And they don't come much worse than Bert Emanuel. Signed to a $16M, four-year contract in 1998 from Atlanta, he never gave the Buc offense the threat it needed or expected from him. Fittingly, his final "catch" was the highly-debated one at the end of the Championship game against the Rams that was eventually called back. Just like his contract was a few weeks later. Click here for his profile |
| 8 |  Danny Peebles
Another classic Ray Perkins' draft selection. Peebles was the Bucs' 2nd round pick in the 1989 draft and the 34rd overall selection. He had blazing speed but just one small drawback that hurt his NFL career - he couldn't catch the ball. 17 career receptions, most of which came in one 1990 game. He wound up in Cleveland and picked up a serious neck injury that saw him retire from the NFL. Buc fans just wish someone else's name had been called instead of his in the 1989 draft. Click here for his profile |
| 9 |  Dan Sileo
A 1987 supplemental draft selection that cost the Bucs a 3rd round pick the following year in the process. Sileo was a defensive tackle who bounced around a number of colleges before winding up at Miami and found himself declared ineligible for his final year hence his entry into the supplemental draft. He was a total bust who played 10 games yet had the gall to become a radio talk show host in Tampa criticising many Buc players for their performances. Kettle and pot black are the words that spring to mind. Click here for his profile |
| 10 |  George Hegamin
Hegamin was described on the roster as being a left tackle who by his very nature is supposed to protect a quarterback's blind side. Anyone remember the Bucs' playoff loss to the Eagles in 2000? Shaun King got killed on every play by Hugh Douglas.who must have thought all his birthdays and Christmases had come all at once with Hegamin in front of him. Yet he is still only the third-ranked tackle on our countdown as there are two even worse than him! Click here for his profile |
| 11 |  Bill Capece
The Bucs only won two games in 1983 but lost at least three more because of the inaccuracies of kicker Bill Capece. After missing an extra point and a short fieldgoal in a Monday Night loss to the Packers, coach John McKay famously announced that "Capece is kaput" and replaced him with the even-worse Dave Warnke for the season finale. Capece had been successful in 1982 but a 10/23 success rate the following year gets him entry to this list. Click here for his profile |
| 12 |  Keith McCants
Another cracking Ray Perkins draft pick as the combined coach/GM went back to his alma mater once again to pick a specialist pass rusher. What he got was Keith McCants, a college linebacker who couldn't play either that position or defensive end in the pros and was even drafted by the Bucs without them knowing he had a serious knee injury at the time. 12 sacks from the fourth overall pick and Perkins did not last out McCants' rookie season. Click here for his profile |
| 13 |  John McKay Jr
This is perhaps a tough inclusion as JK as he was known, put up some decent enough numbers as a receiver in the Bucs' first three seasons. But would he have even been on the team if his Dad had not been the head coach? I don't think so. Several players, including Steve Spurrier, have been critical of the McKay double since those early days and for nepotistic reasons only, a McKay makes our top 50 countdown. Click here for his profile |
| 14 |  Randy Hedberg
Hedberg has the worst stats of any QB in franchise history but he's not the highest-rated passer in our countdown. Came out of nowhere to win the starting job in 1977 but managed to complete less than 28% of his passes and had one in nine of them picked off by the opposition. His QB rating of 8.0 isn't just the lowest in Buc records, it's apparently also the lowest in Faber college history (thank you John Belushi for that one!). Click here for his profile |
| 15 |  Mirro Roder
Mirro will always be a part of Buccaneer lore as the was the first kicker in franchise history. Having beaten out Pete Rajecki who scored the first points in exhibition play for the Bucs, Roder three times attempted fieldgoals with a chance to score the first points ever for the franchise - and he missed all three. He was cut after two games never again to appear in the NFL and the Bucs' kicking woes continued for a good few seasons after. Click here for his profile |
| 16 |  Keith Browner
Probably the only player to ever fall asleep on the sidelines during an NFL game. Was a 2nd round pick in 1984 after the Bucs had blown the first pick overall in a trade for Jack Thompson. Played three nondescript years at linebacker for the Bucs but never had the success that his two brothers did in the NFL. Ended up playing several seasons for the Tampa Bay Storm in Arena ball.
Click here for his profile |
| 17 |  Rob Johnson
The human sack machine and friend to defensive linemen around the NFL. Spent a season as the Bucs' No.2 QB and even posted a 2-0 record as the starter but didn't lead the Bucs to a TD in either performance. Jon Gruden absolutely despised him for changing plays and scrambling until he got sacked and couldn't wait to see the back of him after the SuperBowl-winning season. Went on to Washington and then the Raiders in 2003. Click here for his profile |
| 18 |  Don Smith
Was a 2nd round pick in 1987 and despite having played at QB in college, the Bucs had really high hopes for his future. Wore 47 for the Bucs and then a much higher number in prison when he got 15 years for drug trafficking after leaving the NFL. Had even scored a SuperBowl TD for the Buffalo Bills in the second SuperBowl to be played in Tampa Stadium in 1991. His Buc career was more of a 10th round pick than a 2nd rounder. A bust and then busted. Click here for his profile |
| 19 |  Keyshawn Johnson
Well who else honestly deserved the No.19 spot in our countdown more than the Bucs' former No.19? This selection is not connected at all with his on-field receiving which for four seasons was exemplary. But off the field, has there ever been a bigger jerk in NFL history than this guy? Everywhere he has gone, he has mouthed off at people and alienated them. I've seen him do it at One Buc Place and it's not pretty. The leading asshole in Buc history. Click here for his profile |
| 20 |  Jeb Blount
One of the three quarterbacks to start a game in 1977 and spectacularly unsuccessful at the job too. Made four starts and managed to throw seven interceptions without once finding the endzone. His QB rating was a miniscule 28.3 and it does make you wonder why the Raiders had made him a second round pick the previous year. Was cut in 1978 when Doug Williams arrived in town.
Click here for his profile |
| 21 | Dave Warnke
For the final game of 1983, fed up with Bill Capece's terrible kicking, John McKay brought in the unknown free agent Dave Warnke. Oh wow. He made an extra point by about the width of the paint on the goalpost and his only fieldgoal attempt, a chip shot, came closer to hitting the endzone pylon than the back-netting. For the final extra point of the year, McKay let one of the offensive linemen replace Warnke as a left-footed, toe-first kicker. Click here for his profile |
| 22 |  Stephwn Starring
In 1988, Ray Perkins, in spite of having Mark Carrier and Bruce Hill, decided in his infinite wisdom to trade a 3rd round pick to the Patriots for a "top-notch receiver". He got Stephen Starring. Had a grand total of three receptions in six games, one of which was a last-gasp bomb against the Vikings and was then released. Another marvellous piece of Perkins proving he was a terrible GM as well as a terrible coach. Click here for his profile |
| 23 |  Theo Adams
Another former London Monarch who makes the list and one who had no place being in the NFL at all - he just was not good enough. Played sparingly during 1993 and covered for Paul Gruber in a game in Chicago when he nearly got Craig Erickson killed with his "protection" at left tackle. Whoever was playing right end of the Bears that day probably had a career out of Adams "blocking" (his word not ours") that day. Click here for his profile |
| 24 |  Shaun King
This selection will prove controversial as there will be Buc fans out there who will say that King led the Bucs to the 1999 NFC championship game. No he didn't - the defense did. And if we had any sort of decent QB playing for us that day against the Rams, we would have won the SuperBowl that year. Shaun was simply never good enough to start in the NFL. He's a steady enough No.2 but you really wouldn't want him behind center in a key game for your team. Click here for his profile |
| 25 |  Ken Willis
At the end of 1991, the Bucs had a great kicker in Steve Christie but stupidly left him unprotected in Plan B free agency and he bolted for Buffalo. The Bucs quickly moved to sign the best-available kicker on the market, Dallas' Ken Willis. A cracking 25% accuracy from 30-39 yards and three key misses in a game against the Vikings later, and he was also on the way out of Tampa replaced by veteran Eddie Murray. Click here for his profile |
| 26 | Ed McAleney
The 1976 expansion Buccaneers were a terrible team, of that there is no doubt. And by the end of that season, they were getting stuffed every week. A 42-0 defeat in Three Rivers Stadium to the Pittsburgh Steelers in their heyday was probably a good result but one Buc player was caught smiling on the sideline. "A real laugher" was the headline next day. John McKay went mad and cut the player in question, Ed McAleney on the spot. For that one gesture, he makes our list. Click here for his profile |
| 27 |  Chris Chandler
To think Ray Perkins gave up what turned out to be the 2nd overall pick in the 1992 draft for this team-wrecker. Chandler has had more clubs than Tiger Woods. He caused friction amongst the Buc players by publicly and privately stating he should play ahead of Vinny and then spectacularly failed to back it up on the field. Richard Williamson had to cut him in October 1991 to prevent a training camp riot. Perkins and Chandler both screwed up here. Click here for his profile |
| 28 |  Tyji Armstrong
One of the most popular players with the Tampa media simply because you always knew he was good for some kind of embarrassing story. Never did much for a third round pick and gained a sixth of his career yardage on one play. When the NFL assigned him to the Amsterdam Admirals of the World League in the mid 1990s with their "coffee bar culture", you just knew that someone, somewhere was having a laugh. Click here for his profile |
| 29 |  Wayne Haddix
How can a Pro Bowl corner make this list? Easy when he should never have gone to Hawaii in the first place. Haddix was a journeyman CB who had seven interceptions, three returned for TDs in one season. Hence the fans picked him for Hawaii. What they didn't realise was that he'd been beaten about 50 times for big plays too. Six games in 1991, he'd been benched and then cut from the team. Click here for his profile |
| 30 |  Casey Weldon
Backed up Trent Dilfer for three seasons and also ended up in a fight with him on the golf course during the spring of 1996. Casey always thought he should be the starter in Tampa and went along with a Sam Wyche scheme in the 95 season finale that saw Trent childishly get pulled in the second quarter. Never impressed at any level in the pros, in the NFL or with the Barcelona Dragons in the World League in 1995. Click here for his profile |
| 31 |  Mike Stensrud
If you start every regular season game of a season at nose tackle, you'd expect to get half-a-dozen sacks just by being on the field. But to get no sacks at all? None, nada, nil, zilch. Mike Stensrud started all 12 non-strike games in the 1987 season, made 38 tackles, but not once did he take down the opposinq quarterback. That really takes some doing and hence well earns his place on our worst 50 countdown. Click here for his profile |
| 32 | Larry Lawrence
The expansion Buccaneers were a pretty bad team - of that there is no dispute. But to be one of the back-up quarterbacks on that team and then get cut? Larry Lawrence only played one game for the Bucs, the first-ever home game in franchise history against San Diego. He threw five passes, completed none to his team-mates but was intercepted twice. It doesn't get much worse than that for a debut performance.Click here for his profile |
| 33 |  James Brooks
Another former SuperBowl-winning Bengal who followed Sam Wyche to Tampa in the early part of the 1992 season. Brooks was a former 1,000-yard rusher who was so far over the hill, he actually was on the other side of it. After five carries, he was gone from the NFL for good but actually ended up playing in the British Gridiron League later in the 1990s through connections in the UK. What a sad legacy to a career.Click here for his profile |
| 34 |  Morris Unutoa
Snapping a ball is becoming a specialist art in the NFL but unfortunately Morris Unutoa proved he is far from being one of the best. Brought back by the Bucs in October 2002 for a second stint with the team, he managed to screw up three fieldgoal snaps in a single game against the Cleveland Browns. Fortunately the Bucs dominated the game to make it irrelevant to their SuperBowl push. Morris became a minor inconvenience who was released the next day.Click here for his profile |
| 35 |  Jerry Golsteyn
The man who replaced Doug Williams as the dark years in Buccaneer history began in 1983. And after a 4-0 pre-season, everyone said "Doug who?" What they should have said was "Jerry who?" Never threw a touchdown for the Bucs and was soon replaced behind center by Jack "The Throwin' Samoan" Thompson. Ended up being traded to the Raiders for someone who never played for the Bucs. Click here for his profile |
| 36 |  E.J.Junior
Spent the 1980s as one of the most reliable linebackers in the NFL for the St.Louis then Phoenix then Arizona Cardinals. But he was out of the NFL when Sam Wyche signed him in 1992 and plugged him straight into the starting line-up for a game against the Vikings. And we quickly saw why. It's amazing how someone so old and out of shape could actually make five tackles. And that he got a second game before the Bucs cut him for good. Click here for his profile |
| 37 |  Reidel Anthony
Another Gator wide receiver who went high in the NFL draft and another who turned into a complete bust. Anthony was the 12th overall selection of the 1997 draft and flattered to deceive in his first two seasons before becoming the real dud we all feared he would be. Naturally he became a Redskin prior to the 2002 season when Steve Spurrier took over there and proved quickly it was a good college system that doesn't work for the players or the coach in the NFL.Click here for his profile |
| 38 |  Wally Chambers
Perhaps surprising to include a member of the 1979 defense in this list but many Tampa correspondents requested his presence on this list. The Bucs traded a 1st round pick to the Bears for Chambers, a three-time Pro Bowler, but he was way past his best by the time he arrived in Florida. Was only a back-up by the time the 1979 playoffs rolled around and the cost in acquiring him from Chicago well outweighed the return. Click here for his profile |
| 39 |  Aaron Stecker
The most over-rated player in the history of the NFL and hopefully one who will end up somewhere else in free agency. Let's just sum it up - Jon Gruden thinks he is a third-string who was only good enough to block on kick returns by the end of 2003 - Claymore fans think he's the second coming of Walter Payton and could start for any other NFL team. I think that sums up the level of intelligence of most NFL Europe fans. Click here for his profile |
| 40 |  Eric Curry
Selecting decent pass rushers is something the Bucs have really done well only once in franchise history and that was the first pick they ever made. Eric Curry was a top six pick in 1993 who in 1995, managed to start every game but only picked up his first sack of the season in the season finale (much to the Tribune's amusement). This guy will go down as the mildest curry since Indian food was invented. Click here for his profile |
| 41 |  Bob Nelson
Leeman Bennett's second season was probably the worst in franchise history and only the 1986 squad could have a full-time starting defensive end who only recorded one sack. It is rumoured that Bob Nelson became known at One Buc Place as "Santa" as he only had a single sack too, but thankfully Bob's stay in Tampa was only a brief one and he was cut by Ray Perkins before the 1987 season.
Click here for his profile |
| 42 |  Reggie Rusk
That the Buccaneers do not think much of NFL Europe is no secret (anyone would think I don't either), but to get cut from an NFLE camp takes some doing. Hence Reggie Rusk makes this list for being released from the 1997 Claymores' camp having been allocated there by the Bucs. His NFL career amounted to only five games mostly on special teams but to be not good enough for the Claymores?
Click here for his profile |
| 43 |  Jacquez Green
What is it with NFL teams drafting Florida Gator receivers? They are all crap! It's the system not the player! Jacquez Green was not big enough to start in the NFL but for four years, we threw deep to him and watched ball after ball get picked off by bigger defensive backs. Eventually followed Steve Spurrier to Washington but was a bust there too. Tried to make the 2003 Bucs but was cut in camp.
Click here for his profile |
| 44 |  Brian Blados
Sam Wyche's first season in Tampa in 1992 was full of ex-Bengals arriving in Florida and then departing again without contributing much. Former first round pick Brian Blados was one of those, an overweight and over-the-hill tackle who came to the Bucs for one reason only - as Michael Palin would have put it in "The Life of Brian" - "Spare a signing bonus for an old ex-Bengal".
Click here for his profile |
| 45 |  Darryl Grant
One of those great Buc free agent signings during the season where the team was so desperate for help, it would sign almost anyone off the street. Grant was a former Pro Bowler from the Redskins who had been out of football for months when he was signed at a playing weight of "320 pounds". Nick Pugliese of the Tampa Tribune famously described as Grant as "having spent the last few months in the queue at McDonalds". Click here for his profile |
| 46 |  Cecil Martin
Has only made one appearance for the Bucs and that was on the coverage teams but it didn't stop Sky Sports describing him as "Tampa Bay fullback" during their playoff and SuperBowl coverage when he was in the studio. Obviously there was not room on the on-screen graphic to correctly describe Cecil as "Tampa Bay's 53rd man on the roster who only got to play one solitary game on special teams because we had 11 players on IR."Click here for his profile |
| 47 | Charles Wright
Only played two games for the Bucs in 1988 but I remember the last one well because I was there on the sideline when he got cut. The Bucs had just stopped the Bears on a key third down and Wright, a back-up corner, got called for a stupid personal foul penalty. The Bears went on to score and Ray Perkins went absolutely ballistic on the sideline. Wright spent the rest of the game on the bench and was cut by 9am the following morning. Click here for his profile |
| 48 |  Mike Lemon
A representative of the early Buc teams but in the top 50 on account of his picture - how do you honestly pose for an NFL team like that?! After playing 19 games in his Tampa Bay career and actually releasing a single whilst he was doing so, he went on to appear on hairspray bottles around the world and his hair was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in "Saturday Night Fever". Never has the description of his release "camp cut" been so apt. Click here for his profile |
| 49 |  Marvin Powell
It's a well-known fantasy football tactic to take a player on the downside of his career and trade him to some mug who doesn't know he's totally washed up. Hence how five-time Pro Bowler Marvin Jones ended up a Buccaneer in 1986. By the time he arrived in Tampa, the only thing he could block was a toilet and his presence on this list is an indictment of just how bad our front office staff was at that time in franchise history. Click here for his profile |
| 50 |  LaCurtis Jones
The countdown starts with someone who only played 10 games for the Buccaneers and then only on special teams. But LaCurtis makes this team simply for the fact that when he was cut from the team in training camp 1997, he threatened to return to One Buc Place and shoot the personnel director who made the decision. The police were called and Jones was put on a plane back to Texas never again to appear in the NFL. Click here for his profile |