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Warren Sapp's place in Canton has already been secured after spending 13 years terrorising quarterbacks across the NFL, playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Oakland Raiders. The1999 DPOY reached a career pinnacle when he collected his lone Super Bowl ring in 2002, with the Jon Gruden-led Buccanners.
Sapp has never been someone slow to share his opinion on a chosen subject, having recently appeared on YouTube channel VladTV for a wide-ranging interview covering many of the hottest NFL storylines, currently dominating media headlines.
One subject for discussion was the evolution of offensive play-calling, which has seen the NFL transition into a pass-first league after decades of run-based game plans.
Sapp said:
"No, no, no quarterback driven league. All right, just go back to when we were kids Earl Campbell, Tony Dorsett, Walter Payton, you know, legends that ran the ball all day long and every team was looking to run the ball 30 times and if we can get to 35-30 Almost 40 runs a game?"
The Hall of Famer continued:
"New NFL they coming out throwing it 30 times if we got some goal we're gonna throw it 40 If we mess around and get in a shootout Oh we got to stay cooking its going up 50 plus times it lets nobody was even thinking about stopping it."
The Tampa Bay legend is a fan of the game's evolution, but provided a bizarre take on its origins:
"So the guys that that can sling, that spin it... I just believe that they, that's who always make the money because that's what the girls come to see, because that's why I'm the QB killer baby."
Why has the NFL become a pass-first league?
The All-Pro defensive tackle has his own theories on why the league has moved away from pounding the rock, but there is a far sounder rationale. The quarterbacks are now far more accurate and are delivering previously unheard of completion rates, helped by the NFL's desire to protect the "faces of the franchises" at all costs.
The league has brought in a raft of changes over the past decade, aimed at better protecting signal callers from "QB killers" like Sapp. The biggest victim of these changes has unsurprisingly been the running backs, who are now expected to complete more blocking assignments and be an option in the pass game.
This has led to a shortened life-span for running backs, and it is widely accepted that eventually they get injured a lot. The list of recent casualties is a testiment to that, and is part of the reason why general managers are no longer drafting running backs early, or paying them the money their production warrants.
Or perhaps Sapp is correct, and this evolution is purely for the female fanbase?
If you use any of the above quotes, please credit VladTV and H/T Sportskeeda.
