Warren Sapp To The Rescue
April 23rd, 2010
A lot of people are throwing around Warren Sapp’s name in relation to the Bucs drafting defensive tackle manbeast-in-training Gerald McCoy.
Joe both smiles and cringes when he hears this. It’s unfair to McCoy. No rookie should ever be compared to a (future) Hall of Fame player.
Part of the reason for the comparisons is that McCoy grew up idolizing both Sapp and the Bucs as a youngster. McCoy isn’t shy in talking about how he wore No. 99 in Little League football to honor his boyhood hero, Sapp.
McCoy finally got to meet Sapp a few weeks ago. Maybe sensing McCoy would play for the Bucs — Bucs general manager Mark Dominik admitted he heeded Sapp’s advice when Sapp lobbied for the Bucs to draft McCoy — Sapp offered to be McCoy’s personal tutor and help him out any way he could, so reports Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.
“The plan is to come in and be a starter. I did that at college, and we did the same thing in college – we played the Tampa 2 (defense), so I can’t wait to get going.”
Once he gets going, McCoy can expect to get some help from Warren Sapp, the defensive tackle the Bucs drafted in the first round in 1995 and built their championship team around.
“I met Warren Sapp a few weeks ago, and he said he’s going to take me under his wing and help me out,” McCoy said. “He’s going to work with me on the field, off the field, I’m going to be his guy.”
This is heartening to hear about Sapp and shows that Sapp still has his heart in Tampa Bay.
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:14 am
A couple of thoughts: Our team has been basically rudderless since Sapp departed. We’ve hoped that a couple of ensuing draft picks would lead and they didn’t pan out. Now we have a rookie who has dreamed aboutplaying for this team, will likely be here most or all of his career, can grow to be ferocious and will have mentorship from Sapp. Seriously, this was huge score of a draft pick.
I am not going to get overconfident, but in many cases, players step up their performance under strong leadership. just look at teh Saints defense as an example. We have some good talent. We’ve changed the heads of th team, now we are dropping real leadership onto the field.
The are many draft picks left and even more holes to fill. But we took a great step forward with McCoy. Now we need to take more steps.
The Rays had to build from crap. We are building from crap. The team has to pay this kid big bucks. If they give him a pleasing contract, we know they are for real. If it gets stalled in negotiations, we have a problem. Many questions will be answered in the coming months based on how management handles this. If they want to build from the draft, they have to pay their draftees.
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:16 am
anyone else find steve young really annoying last night?
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:19 am
Its exciting all the talk is on Mccoy as it should be.. but everyone under the sun knew the the Bucs were going to select him.. Now the real draft begins tonight to see if Dominik and his staff have done their homework. It’s disappointing a little we didn’t pull the trigger on Bryant.. That would have created a buzz around here thats been missing for sometime.. I just hope after today we can all be as pumped up as we were after last nights obvious selection. Go Bucs!!!!
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:20 am
agree justin.. but i’ve always found him that way.
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:25 am
I’ve had truble taking Steve seriously since he picked his nose during an interview.
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:35 am
This is great news! I am very pleased Sapp is still a part of the organization and that he is allowed to contribute in this capacity. Although he was a jackass every time I tried to, unsuccessfully, get his autograph, I cannot deny that this will be beneficial to McCoy and the Bucs. We need this to player evolve into a probowler by year 3. I hope the rest of the draft goes well! Next pick…. WR or S?
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:39 am
Off to pick my nose….
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:59 am
Why aren’t you guys watching NFLN?
April 23rd, 2010 at 9:01 am
Young was annoying and I watched ESPN because I wanted to get Gruden’s perspective on things.
April 23rd, 2010 at 9:17 am
NFLN did not have Gruden (he has found his niche), and it did not have a POed – annoyed – arrogant Mel Kiper. His Claussen frustration was priceless.
Actually NFLN’s coverage was kind of ehh!
April 23rd, 2010 at 9:52 am
McCoy will benefit from Sapp’s guidance, but McCoy is not Sapp. (Neither is Suh). McCoy should be a great one in his own right. Cannot wait to see him play, but one of the things that people forget about Sapp is how crazy fast he was. Sapp ran a 4.6 or 4.7 versus If McCoy or Suh running 5.0. Big difference.
That’s not to say McCoy will not be great, just different. He is taller and plays a different game then Sapp, even though same position. He aslo appears to have a much different personality. Maybe Sapp will teach him the “ghost.” Really looking forward to McCoy as a Buc. Now let’s see who he gets to play with.