2. Lavonte David – 2013
Tackles: 145 (total), 107 (solo)
Tackles for Loss: 21(!!)
Sacks: 7.0 (!!)
Interceptions: 5
Awards: All-Pro, NFC Defensive Player of the Week (Week 12)
I know, I know, how did I not put David FIRST in this list? As underrated as he is, this was about individual seasons. If we're talking Bucs careers – spoiler alert: you know who I'm putting top two, and probably not two. Though Rondé Barber certainly has a case to be made there… And Derrick Brooks… Warren Sapp… Mike Alstott… Lee Roy Selmon…
I digress.
What's crazy about David's 2013 season, which was his second in a Bucs' uniform, was that he was named First-Team All-Pro yet somehow didn't make the Pro Bowl. It just further proves that the Pro Bowl is a popularity contest but also… WHY WASN'T LAVONTE DAVID POPULAR THEN? He absolutely dominated. David had the third-most tackles for loss that season. You want to know who else was in the top five? Robert Quinn, J.J. Watt, Adrian Clayborn and Greg Hardy. All defensive ends. In fact, David still dominates – especially in regard to taking down opponents in the backfield. He has the second-most tackles for loss since he entered the league behind only Watt and he's starting a whole level behind Watt. David's combination of recognition, reaction and speed is, and has been, insane. If you haven't noticed 54 on the field, I implore you to get your eyes checked immediately. What's even crazier is that in 2015, David did make the Pro Bowl (the only time in his career) but didn't get on the All-Pro list. Madness. It's madness.
David led the Bucs in tackles (obviously) in 2013, ranking top 5 in the league in the process. The man also recorded a safety that season, which was my own way of differentiating his 2013 season from his 2015 season because honestly, either was viable. David also had double-digit pass breakups with 10 and registered a career-high 7.0 sacks his sophomore season. Oh, and I didn't even mention the five interceptions David had that year, too. Five. As an off-ball backer. If that isn't enough to warrant one of the best defensive seasons in the last decade, I don't know what is.
1. Shaq Barrett – 2019
Tackles: 58
Tackles for Loss: 19
Sacks: 19.5
Awards: Pro Bowl, NFC Defensive Player of the Week (Week 2), NFC Defensive Player of the Month (September)
Well, ok, there may be one better defensive season. I'm really on a roll with this whole contradicting myself thing. The reason I had to put Barrett's 2019 season ahead of David was essentially because of his oh, 19.5 sacks, setting a franchise record and becoming the league's sack king last year. That's just an insane total. It surpassed Warren Sapp's 16.5 sacks, a record that stood in the Tampa Bay record books for nearly two decades. In fact, it was just a year prior that everyone was excited for Jason Pierre-Paul breaking double digits in sacks as a Buc for the first time since 2005 when Simeon Rice did it. Well, Barrett quite literally burst on the scene to show he was about to take care of business in 2019, registering nine sacks in the first four games. Barrett had four on New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones in Week Three alone. Welcome to the league, buddy.
Barrett admittedly tapered off a bit the next couple games but then Pierre-Paul returned from injury and Barrett was as consistent as you could possibly be. Then came the drama. After leading the league for most of the year in sacks, Arizona's Chandler Jones pulled ahead right before the last game of the season. But Barrett would not be denied. He finished the year with three sacks against Atlanta to put him at his whopping finishing total of 19.5, and ahead of Jones.
Here's the thing, though. It wasn't just the sacks. Barrett also tied for the most quarterback hits in the league with 37. He finished with the second-most tackles for loss last year behind only Los Angeles' Aaron Donald with 19 and tallied the third-most forced fumbles with six, too. He was as complete an outside linebacker that you could possibly ask for and surpassed Warren Sapp en route to a record that is likely going to stand long beyond Barrett's Buccaneers tenure.
Scott's Thoughts: Well done. This list is perfectly fine as is.
I can't seriously argue with anything here; I can only quibble. Which I shall now do.
Right after I assigned this topic I tried to come up with my own list off the top of my head. Three of my immediate answers matched ones Carmen has above: Barrett in 2019, David in 2013, Martin in 2012, while I also had Evans but I preferred 2018 over 2016. I was then mulling over a number of options for my fifth season but I had not thought of VJax in 2012. I should have.
I find it hard to exclude Gerald McCoy's 2013 season, in which he had 9.5 sacks from the interior line and was named a first-team All-Pro. The thing about critiquing the exclusion of something from a top five list is that you have to be ready to remove something from that list in order to make room. I guess I could slide in McCoy over Jackson's 2012 season, but that's really a toss-up.
Others that I considered were Aqib Talib in 2010 (six picks), Josh Freeman in 2010 (25 to 6 TD-INT ratio, 95.9 passer rating) and Chris Godwin last year (1,333 yards, nine touchdowns in 14 games). I don't think any of those can unseat Carmen's top five, though.
I only have two other quibbles. As I mentioned above, I'd take Evans's 2018 season over 2016 because yards are more important than catches. Carmen is right to point out his 12 touchdowns in 2016, but the eight he had in 2018 weren't too shabby. And his yardage total set a Buccaneer single-season record.
The other quibble is that I would have put David's 2013 over Barrett's 2019. Yes, Barrett's 19.5 sacks represented an incredible feat and shattered the Bucs' single-season record. That said, David's combination of statistics could be considered even more rare. While noting that the sack wasn't official until 1982 and tackle for loss stats only go back so far, do you know how many players since at least 1999 have had at least 140 tackles, at least 20 tackles for loss, at least five sacks and at least five interceptions in one season? One. Lavonte David in 2013.
Come back on Friday to see what I make of Carmen's challenge involving 20 years worth of Bucs games!
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