Gold Jacket Spotlight: Warren Sapp continues to search for ‘the next one’
Gold Jacket Spotlight
Published on : 9/2/2024
In an interview, WARREN SAPP recently likened a favorite pastime of his to “an endless line of quarterbacks and one-on-ones all day long.”
He was appearing on an angler fishing podcast.
Known for his passion on the football field, Warren began to dedicate himself to a new game in retirement.
“After I got into fishing, it was just the next adventure, the next fish, the bucket list fish,” Warren said. “It was just, ‘What was next?’”
A member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2013, Warren’s fishing excursions have singled him out among enshrinees as the first Hall of Famer to survive a shark attack, catching the attention of this week’s Gold Jacket Spotlight.
“You should see the condition the shark is in,” Warren joked on social media.
While on another fishing podcast, Warren explained how his second nature as a determined defensive tackle overtook him in that moment.
“I was being a QB killer thinking I was on the field,” Warren said. “I learned a valuable lesson: Stay on the football field if you want to be dominant.”
As recognized by Hall of Fame teammates, he was unstoppable on the football field.
During Warren’s episode of “A Football Life,” JOHN LYNCH remarked, “Dominant, I think, is a word that’s thrown around too often. There aren’t too many people that dominate at the NFL level. He was dominant.”
DERRICK BROOKS echoed the sentiment: “Every single game there were moments where he dominated teams.”
Alongside Lynch, Brooks and RONDÉ BARBER, Warren anchored a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense that became the standard throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s.
“Great defenses, to me, start up the middle,” Lynch said of Warren’s role on the Buccaneers’ defense. “And when you had No. 99 up the middle wreaking havoc and just making life miserable on offensive lines, on quarterbacks, it was just a lot to deal with.”
Warren’s defensive forte was terrorizing offensive lines and quarterbacks. And just like his favorite fish to catch, his favorite quarterback was the same: The next one.
In his nine seasons with Tampa Bay, Warren recorded 77 sacks, including three seasons with a double-digit count: 1997 (10.5), 1999 (12.5) and 2000 (16.5). Warren became a key factor in Tampa’s turnaround in the late 1990s, breaking a streak of 14 consecutive losing seasons in 1997.
The Buccaneers opened the 1997 season 5-0, finished second in the NFC Central Division and made the playoffs for the first time since 1982. In Tampa Bay's 21-7 divisional playoff loss at Lambeau Field, Warren overwhelmed the Packers’ offensive line, sacking BRETT FAVRE three times.
“Warren Sapp was unblockable – literally unblockable,” Favre said in an interview. “Even when we were beating them, he would hit me pretty much every play.”
Warren’s defensive presence continued to be paramount, leading Tampa Bay to its first division title and a Super Bowl victory within the following five years. Retiring in 2008, Warren ended his 13-year career with seven Pro Bowl selections and as a member of the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 1990s and the 2000s.
Today, Warren can be seen on YouTube slaying canal dragons, catching exotic barramundi and hunting pythons, with the biggest catch of his life coming from a much larger foe than an NFL quarterback: large bluefin tuna (often weighing 500 to 900 pounds) off Prince Edward Island.
“He was over the moon,” Lucas Lesperance, the charter captain on the Prince Edward Island excursion, said in an interview. “When you have a 900-pound fish up beside the boat, that's quite a thrill.”
Though Warren prefers a larger target, he is not the only Hall of Famer with a knack for fishing, crediting DEION SANDERS’ ability as a bass fisherman. Warren has joined Sanders on the University of Colorado-Boulder coaching staff.
“He’s a wealth of knowledge,” Sanders said in an interview before the season opened. “And he’s turned into the biggest outdoorsman I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Between Colorado football and the outdoors, Warren now marks his life between two phrases: “It’s either Sapp fishing or Sapp not fishing.”
He was appearing on an angler fishing podcast.
Known for his passion on the football field, Warren began to dedicate himself to a new game in retirement.
“After I got into fishing, it was just the next adventure, the next fish, the bucket list fish,” Warren said. “It was just, ‘What was next?’”
A member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2013, Warren’s fishing excursions have singled him out among enshrinees as the first Hall of Famer to survive a shark attack, catching the attention of this week’s Gold Jacket Spotlight.
“You should see the condition the shark is in,” Warren joked on social media.
While on another fishing podcast, Warren explained how his second nature as a determined defensive tackle overtook him in that moment.
“I was being a QB killer thinking I was on the field,” Warren said. “I learned a valuable lesson: Stay on the football field if you want to be dominant.”
As recognized by Hall of Fame teammates, he was unstoppable on the football field.
During Warren’s episode of “A Football Life,” JOHN LYNCH remarked, “Dominant, I think, is a word that’s thrown around too often. There aren’t too many people that dominate at the NFL level. He was dominant.”
DERRICK BROOKS echoed the sentiment: “Every single game there were moments where he dominated teams.”
Alongside Lynch, Brooks and RONDÉ BARBER, Warren anchored a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense that became the standard throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s.
“Great defenses, to me, start up the middle,” Lynch said of Warren’s role on the Buccaneers’ defense. “And when you had No. 99 up the middle wreaking havoc and just making life miserable on offensive lines, on quarterbacks, it was just a lot to deal with.”
Warren’s defensive forte was terrorizing offensive lines and quarterbacks. And just like his favorite fish to catch, his favorite quarterback was the same: The next one.
In his nine seasons with Tampa Bay, Warren recorded 77 sacks, including three seasons with a double-digit count: 1997 (10.5), 1999 (12.5) and 2000 (16.5). Warren became a key factor in Tampa’s turnaround in the late 1990s, breaking a streak of 14 consecutive losing seasons in 1997.
The Buccaneers opened the 1997 season 5-0, finished second in the NFC Central Division and made the playoffs for the first time since 1982. In Tampa Bay's 21-7 divisional playoff loss at Lambeau Field, Warren overwhelmed the Packers’ offensive line, sacking BRETT FAVRE three times.
“Warren Sapp was unblockable – literally unblockable,” Favre said in an interview. “Even when we were beating them, he would hit me pretty much every play.”
Warren’s defensive presence continued to be paramount, leading Tampa Bay to its first division title and a Super Bowl victory within the following five years. Retiring in 2008, Warren ended his 13-year career with seven Pro Bowl selections and as a member of the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 1990s and the 2000s.
Today, Warren can be seen on YouTube slaying canal dragons, catching exotic barramundi and hunting pythons, with the biggest catch of his life coming from a much larger foe than an NFL quarterback: large bluefin tuna (often weighing 500 to 900 pounds) off Prince Edward Island.
“He was over the moon,” Lucas Lesperance, the charter captain on the Prince Edward Island excursion, said in an interview. “When you have a 900-pound fish up beside the boat, that's quite a thrill.”
Though Warren prefers a larger target, he is not the only Hall of Famer with a knack for fishing, crediting DEION SANDERS’ ability as a bass fisherman. Warren has joined Sanders on the University of Colorado-Boulder coaching staff.
“He’s a wealth of knowledge,” Sanders said in an interview before the season opened. “And he’s turned into the biggest outdoorsman I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Between Colorado football and the outdoors, Warren now marks his life between two phrases: “It’s either Sapp fishing or Sapp not fishing.”
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