Gunzlingr
05-05-2003, 02:44 PM
May 3, 2003 Print it
TAMPA, Fla. -- Warren Sapp, as he tends to do, spoke bluntly.
The All-Pro defensive tackle has one season remaining on his contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and is not optimistic about the prospect of remaining with the Super Bowl champions beyond 2003.
Sapp said it wouldn't surprise him if the Bucs placed a "franchise" tag on him after next season, instead of giving him a new contract to keep him in Tampa for the rest of his career.
"If they want to do it, they want to do it. If not, this is their team. I can't have any hard feelings," Sapp said.
"The only thing they've allowed me to do in the last five years is collect almost $30 million. I ain't hurtin'. I'd be a fool to sit up here and rant and rave: 'They won't pay me.' They've already paid me. And if they say I'm no longer the commodity, we'll deal with it then."
Sapp will earn $6.6 million next season in the final year of a six-year, $36 million contract he signed in 1998.
He has been one of the league's most dominant defensive players, and believes he should be rewarded for his contributions as one of the cornerstones of a franchise that's gone from being a laughingstock to Super Bowl champions.
more (http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/articles/20030503/471895.html)
TAMPA, Fla. -- Warren Sapp, as he tends to do, spoke bluntly.
The All-Pro defensive tackle has one season remaining on his contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and is not optimistic about the prospect of remaining with the Super Bowl champions beyond 2003.
Sapp said it wouldn't surprise him if the Bucs placed a "franchise" tag on him after next season, instead of giving him a new contract to keep him in Tampa for the rest of his career.
"If they want to do it, they want to do it. If not, this is their team. I can't have any hard feelings," Sapp said.
"The only thing they've allowed me to do in the last five years is collect almost $30 million. I ain't hurtin'. I'd be a fool to sit up here and rant and rave: 'They won't pay me.' They've already paid me. And if they say I'm no longer the commodity, we'll deal with it then."
Sapp will earn $6.6 million next season in the final year of a six-year, $36 million contract he signed in 1998.
He has been one of the league's most dominant defensive players, and believes he should be rewarded for his contributions as one of the cornerstones of a franchise that's gone from being a laughingstock to Super Bowl champions.
more (http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/articles/20030503/471895.html)