5. Quarterback Baker Mayfield, 2023

One of only two active players on this list (and the one with a real chance to move even higher at some point), Mayfield had the unenviable task of following Tom Brady when he signed with the Buccaneers in 2023 and subsequently bested holdover Kyle Trask in a battle for the starting job. That mission accomplished, Mayfield has never looked back, so far producing one of the best three-year runs by a quarterback in franchise history. The Bucs signed him after a lost 2022 that saw him traded by the Cleveland Browns, who had drafted him first overall in 2018, to the Carolina Panthers, where he started six games before being cut and signed for a brief and successful late-season cameo by the Rams. Due to that unhappy ending in Cleveland, in which he did lead the Browns to the second round of the playoffs in 2020 and his subsequent travels, he too came aboard on somewhat of a prove-it one-year deal before then landing a more lucrative multi-year contract in 2024. While the NFL cognoscenti was expecting a Buccaneer collapse after Brady’s retirement, Mayfield led the team to division titles in 2023 and 2024 and individually put up massive numbers. That started with a career best 4,044 yards and 28 touchdowns in 2023, which he topped in 2024 with 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns. In his first three seasons in Tampa, Mayfield has already seventh in team history in passing yards (12,237) and third in touchdown passes (95), and he is third and second in the entire NFL over that span in those two categories, respectively.

4. Quarterback Brad Johnson, 2001

Mayfield has already moved ahead of Johnson on all the Bucs’ passing charts and has a superior career passer rating (97.4 to 83.2) as well as being more of a threat with his legs, and one could probably argue the order of those two players on this list. For now, though, I’m sticking with Johnson’s Super Bowl championship as the tiebreaker. In both cases, finding a playoff-caliber quarterback in free agency gets you extra credit. Already seven years into his NFL career, Johnson came to the Bucs in 2001 after two strong years in Washington, including one Pro Bowl campaign. He took over for Shaun King and stabilized the Bucs’ passing game in 2001 before breaking out his best season in ’02. Johnson’s 92.9 passer rating that year was affected most by his 22-6 TD-INT ratio, a good fit for a team that was driven by an otherworldly defense. Nicknamed “The Bull” because of his toughness, Johnson overcame a fracture in his back that cost him several games in December in the Super Bowl season, returning with a strong performance in the playoffs. When the Buccaneers’ running game collapsed in 2003, Johnson threw for a then-team-record 3,811 yards and 26 touchdowns. He ranks seventh in team history in passing yards (10,940), just behind Mayfield, and his 83.2 passer rating was the best by any Buccaneer quarterback at the time of his departure.

3. Linebacker Hardy Nickerson, 1993

In the very first year of unrestricted free agency, the Green Bay Packers managed to pry Reggie White away from Philadelphia and that might still be the best free agent signing ever (the Bucs and Tom Brady would like a word, though). Hardy Nickerson was arguably the second-best pick-up of that first free agency scramble, and he made a similarly huge impact on his new franchise. Nickerson was a starter for a good portion of his six years in Pittsburgh, but he was instantly a star in Tampa. All he did in his first season was set a new team record with 214 tackles, immediately become the team’s unquestioned leader and break the franchise’s two-year Pro Bowl drought. Nickerson had to toil through several losing seasons, but he was there when the rest of the pieces of a dominant defense began to arrive, and he was in the thick of it when the struggling franchise finally turned its fortunes around in 1997. He started all 104 games in which he played and was rarely out of the lineup, though he did overcome a frightening heart infection in 1998 to come back strong in 1999 and help the Bucs to the NFC Championship Game. Simply one of the best and most intense players in franchise history, Nickerson ranks fourth on the team’s all-time tackle list with 1,028 stops.

2. Defensive end Simeon Rice, 2001

Even after Barrett broke Sapp’s record in 2019, Rice still owns three of the top five sack seasons in franchise history and four of the top 10. Rice was already a fully-formed pass-rushing star when he left Arizona for the Buccaneers, and a 2013 article on NFL.com tabbed him, at the time, as the 19th best UFA addition of all-time. Said author Jim Reineking in that story: “The Buccaneers already boasted one of the NFL’s best defenses when Rice arrived in 2001 to help add a pass-rushing presence. Rice provided that pressure, registering double-digit sack totals in five consecutive seasons. In the Buccaneers’ first and only Super Bowl appearance, Rice recorded two sacks as Tampa Bay dominated the Oakland Raiders, 48-21.” Rice had a total of four sacks during that three-game playoff run, adding to his team-high 15.5 QB takedowns from the regular season. That was his highest single-season sack total as a Buccaneer, but he cracked double digits in all but the last of his six years with the club and was essentially the NFL’s most feared pass-rusher during that span. Including two years with the Cardinals, Rice led all NFL players in sacks from 1999-2005. Monte Kiffin convinced Rice in the spring of 2001 that he would be the final piece of the puzzle in putting together one of the most dominant defenses of all time, and that’s exactly what Rice proved to be.

1. Quarterback Tom Brady, 2020

Brady is unquestionably the greatest player ever to sign with the Buccaneers, but I don’t have him at the top of this list based on his reputation or pre-Tampa accomplishments. No, this is all about what the addition of Brady accomplished for the Buccaneers. At the time, Tampa Bay had a lot of talent on its roster but was still falling short of the playoffs every year, let alone a shot at the ultimate prize. The arrival of Brady, who was 42 at the time of the signing and would be 43 before he threw a competitive pass in red and pewter, changed all of that, and swiftly. The Buccaneers broke a 12-year playoff drought in his first season with the team, then charged through the playoffs, winning three road games before making NFL history by winning (or even playing in) a Super Bowl in their home stadium. Brady proved he had a lot of life left in his famous right arm, throwing for 4,633 yards and a team-record 40 touchdowns in the Super Bowl season, then topping that with an NFL-leading 5,316 yards and 43 touchdown passes in 2021. He came in second to Aaron Rodgers in the NFL MVP balloting that second season, the highest finish ever for a Buccaneer. After a brief retirement early in the 2022 season, he elected to come back for a third season and led the Bucs to a second straight division title. In just three seasons, Brady put up 14,643 passing yards and 108 touchdown passes, which rank third and second in team history, respectively. Arguably more important to all those numbers was the culture that Brady established in the Bucs’ locker room, an expectation of winning that has continued on years after his retirement.

Honorable mentions: The list of players considered for inclusion in this top 10 starts with defensive end Greg Spires (2002) and cornerback Martin Mayhew (1993), both of whom were on the last list I put together before the arrivals of Mayfield and McLaughlin. Others include Jurevicius, Jenkins, punter Josh Bidwell (2004), linebacker Lonnie Marts (1994), quarterback Jeff Garcia (2007), center Jeff Christie (2000), center John Wade (2003), defensive tackle Chris Hovan (2005), tight end Jackie Harris (1994) and safety/special teams ace Kenny Gant (1995).