Few realize Shelton Quarles' total impact

As Shelton Quarles departs, however, do not mistake the void that he leaves.

By GARY SHELTON, Times columnist
Published April 25, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Getty images] The Bucs say goodbye to middle linebacker Shelton Quarles, who was released Tuesday after failing a team physical.

When a man spends his career in the shadows, the danger is that not enough people will realize when he walks away.

As Shelton Quarles departs, however, do not mistake the void that he leaves.

No one ever paid enough attention to Quarles, the most underrated Buc of them all. There was always someone else on the Bucs' defense to attract the microphones: Derrick Brooks or Warren Sapp, John Lynch or Ronde Barber or Simeon Rice. For reporters, there was always a reason to step around Quarles on your way to someone else.

For a decade, it was that way. Quarles played hard, and he played hurt, but the headlines and highlights usually were about other players. Quarles made a thousand tackles and a thousand more of those little plays that help a team win, but none of it rescued him from the background.

In hindsight, a few more people should have realized the quiet qualities of Quarles.

If they had, perhaps everyone would be just a tad more nervous today.

The end came for Quarles on Tuesday. The usual suspects ganged up on him, his age and his wage, the wear and the tear. Officially, the Bucs said, Quarles had failed his physical, but even general manager Bruce Allen admitted there was more to it than that. Quarles is 35, and his body has been battered in the name of the Bucs, and he had a million-dollar roster bonus coming his way in a week. For a veteran, that's the triple crown of reasons to be released.

Don't let any of that fool you, though. In a week when the Bucs are supposed to be patching holes, they just came up with another one.

That's the thing about saying goodbye. Every adjective you throw at Quarles today is something else the Bucs have to replace. You want to talk about his toughness? His intelligence? His speed? His leadership?

As of today, the Bucs have a little less of all of that.

Yeah, the farewell could have been better. Teams spend a decade watching a player break down his body until it's bone-on-bone, and when the tread is done, they say goodbye. It's a cold business.

In a perfect world, Quarles would have stood with Allen at the front of the room Monday. Maybe Brooks would have been on one side of him, Barber on the other. Maybe Jon Gruden could have come out of his office. The team could have showed a few highlights, and everyone could have chucked each other on the shoulder. And if Quarles still thinks he can play, he could have said that, too.

As we have learned, however, the Bucs are dreadful at saying goodbye to their players.

It's a shame, because there were never enough adjectives thrown in the general direction of Quarles.

"It's almost a shame he played around so many great football players," Barber said. "If he's on a team without a Derrick or a Warren, he's probably a lot better known. He does so much. Just ask his peers around the league."

Maybe Quarles never quite got his due because, let's face it, he sneaked up on the league. He was cut by the Dolphins, and he played two years in Canada before catching on with the Bucs. Even here, he watched for two seasons before he got onto the field. At that point, who expected excellence?

Then again, maybe Quarles was overlooked because he looked so little like a classic middle linebacker. He wasn't Dick Butkus or Willie Lanier or Mike Singletary or any of those fierce, thick men who snapped and snarled. Quarles was more of a runner, a technician.

"He personified the Tampa 2," Barber said. "When teams were studying our defense, what they were doing was studying Shelton Quarles."

If you are going to boil Quarles down to a single play, it is probably his ability to drop deep into coverage. The vulnerability of the Tampa 2 is the deep middle, and time after time, Quarles would drop 40 yards, 50 yards, into coverage.

"I can show you the Rams throwing deep down the middle to Isaac Holt, and there is Shelton making a play," defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said. "Same with the Saints and Joe Horn. You can go on and on.

"He was really an excellent player. He had a quiet presence to him, but he wasn't quiet when the huddle broke. He would light you up."

As of today, there is a need for a new one of those with the Bucs. So far, the grade on Barrett Ruud is positive but inconclusive. It would not be a surprise if the Bucs were to bring in another linebacker.

If so, he had better be tough. He had better be fast. He had better be a great tackler. He had better be able to drop into coverage. Most of all, he had better be good.

If he is, it won't matter how quiet he is.

In the end, he will have said enough.

Gary Shelton can be reached at (727) 893-8805.

[Last modified April 25, 2007, 07:38:36]