Once Warren Sapp realized a call wasn't coming, he cleaned out his locker and left, ending a strange negotiation with his original club.
By ROGER MILLS
Published August 22, 2004
NAPA VALLEY, Calif. - Defensive tackle Warren Sapp, who signed a seven-year, $36-million deal with the Raiders in the offseason, said he isn't bitter just mystified that the Bucs did not make him an offer and disappointed that he never got a courtesy phone call.
"I would have liked a definite answer," Sapp said. "We want you or we don't. It's okay. I have nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to what I have done in Tampa."
Sapp, in training camp with the Raiders, said he understood the business of the NFL and figured after the team had given million-dollar contracts to defensive end Simeon Rice and tackle Anthony McFarland that the pickings would be slim.
"I do know that most general managers can't pay a defensive end $40-million, the nose tackle $40-million and then take care of the one guy that drives it," Sapp said. "The numbers just didn't match."
Despite comments from the Bucs about how much they wanted to re-sign him, Sapp said no movement was made, no offer was made. Agent Drew Rosenhaus never made a trip to Tampa.
Finally, when the Bengals made him an offer of four years, $16-million, Sapp said he picked up the phone and called coach Jon Gruden.
"I said, "Jon, I can't believe you don't have $16-million for me, considering you just paid me $40-million over the last nine.' (Gruden) said, "I've got to talk to (general manager) Bruce (Allen) about that and I'll call you back.' But I didn't get a call back. I knew then. If you can't call me back on $16-million, then there was no reason for us to talk about it anymore.
"I would have been man enough to tell me something. I never got a call back. I just went to my locker room and cleaned it out the next day. Contract given, contract honored. That's how they are. It's the only thing I could do. I just wish they would have called me back and said, "You're not in our plans.' "
Sapp said linebacker Derrick Brooks went to the team and asked what the plans were for Sapp.
"They told him it's an in-house situation," Sapp said. "In other words, "Mind your own business!' I told him, "Brooks, they have not called me once and I'm sure I'm not going to get a call.' "
Sapp's concern isn't with Gruden. He said he has a deep sense of respect and appreciation for Gruden's ability to take the team to a Super Bowl title and he ripped former teammate Keyshawn Johnson, the receiver now with the Cowboys, for calling Gruden a "slickster."
"I sat with Jon every morning for two years," Sapp said. "I walked into his office at seven in the morning and we had one-on-one conversations with him about our team and about different personnel. I know he always had something in the game plan for Keyshawn, but Keyshawn never met him.
"You hear this man saying how Vinny Testaverde was the only quarterback he would allow to yell at him on the field? Please. You know how many times Keyshawn broke the huddle and didn't know the damn play? It was a running joke in the locker room, ask the boys, they know this!"
Sapp said he took offense to Johnson's comments.
"I always looked at Jon as the messiah," Sapp said. "He brought us the greatest thing that we could possibly have and that was an answer to the Philadelphia blitz and a Super Bowl win. ... How do you say a coach that took you to the AFC Championship Game, where you get thumped, is the best coach you ever had? How? Then, when you put the stats up, he had more yards per game when he was with us, he just wasn't getting in the end zone. It's not our fault."
Pledging to heed advice given to him by Bucs defensive line coach Rod Marinelli that "your past doesn't equal your future," Sapp said he is focused on moving forward and not looking back.
But as eager as he is to move forward, Sapp admits that there is one stone he wished he could have turned before leaving.
Lee Roy Selmon holds the Tampa Bay record for career sacks with 78.5, Sapp finished with 77.
"I missed that," he said. "I'm one and a half short. ... Trust me, I did everything I could to do it."
