Tampa Bay Buccaneers
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 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 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 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 him $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 response, Sapp screamed at Sherman: "You talk tough? Put a jersey on!" Sapp later called Sherman "a lying, shit-eating hound. ... If I was 25 years old and didn't have a kid and a conscience, I would have given him an ass kicking right there at the 30-yard line." Sherman later added, "The joviality that existed after [the hit] when a guy's lying on the ground, with numbness in his legs and fingers, I just thought that wasn't appropriate for any NFL player."
During pregame warmups for the December 23, 2002 Monday Night Football game at Raymond James Stadium, Sapp skipped among the Pittsburgh Steelers as they warmed up. Steelers running back Jerome Bettis shoved him, touching off a heated argument between the two teams. Sapp was not fined for the incident, but it added to his controversial image, and he felt he had been made an example by the NFL by being fined for a second Monday-night skipping incident (described below). "That's all this is about," said Sapp. "In my nine years in this league, no one's been fined for verbally abusing officials. It's unprecedented." The Buccaneers had been earlier ridiculed by Steelers' Lee Flowers as being "paper champions".
In 2003, during a Monday Night Football game against the Indianapolis Colts on October 6, Sapp was scolded for skipping through and disrupting the Colts, who were spread out on the field stretching during warmups. Much anticipation and national interest going into the game had been generated by the return of former head coach Tony Dungy to Tampa. The Colts wound up erasing a 21-point deficit in the final four minutes and defeating the Buccaneers 38–35 in overtime, sending the defending champions into a downslide.
The next Sunday, October 12, 2003, before the Buccaneers took on the Washington Redskins, Sapp, while running onto the field, bumped into an NFL referee and drew a $50,000 fine. His response: "It's a slave system. Make no mistake about it. Slavemaster say you can't do it, don't do it. They'll make an example out of you."
