TAMPA — Forty years ago — before the league staged a combine, before around-the-clock analysis, even before the birth of ESPN — the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers rather quietly made the franchise’s first selection in the NFL draft.
The Bucs picked Lee Roy Selmon, a defensive lineman from the University of Oklahoma.
“It was not a difficult decision,” said Ron Wolf, who was the franchise’s vice president of football operations. “The Oklahoma people spoke of him with a certain awe. We felt he would have an impact.”
He did — and in ways no one could have imagined.