“Coach, Do You Want Simeon Rice Or Warrick Dunn?”
June 8th, 2026
How Warrick Dunn escaped.
Way cool story from Chucky on Bucs history and how he was initially denied the chance to coach one of the best running backs in team history, Warrick Dunn.
Oh yes, Chucky eventually did get a chance to coach Dunn, in 2008, Chucky’s final Bucs season and Dunn’s final season in the NFL.
Though Joe has never had the chance to ask Chucky about Dunn, Joe had heard through many sources how badly he wanted Dunn. The year the Bucs traded for Chucky (2002), Dunn left to get a bag from the Dixie Chicks.
It turned out to be a bad football move by Dunn as the Bucs won the Super Bowl that season.
Well, Chucky told the story of why he initially didn’t get the chance to coach Dunn. Chucky had the great Ricky Williams in his Tampa lair and Williams asked Chucky for the best running backs he ever coached. Roger Craig, Ricky Watters, Josh Jacobs and Mike Alstott made the list.
Williams then asked Chucky about Dunn and Chucky told the story.
“Well, I got Warrick after his heyday in Tampa,” Chucky said. “He went to Atlanta and came back with me for just one year, but he was a hell of a back.
“I got traded to Tampa Bay and I was sitting in a meeting and Rich McKay was the GM, and he said, ‘Coach, do you want Simeon Rice or Warrick Dunn?’
“I go, ‘What?’ [McKay repeated] ‘You want Simeon Rice or Warrick Dunn?’
“I said, ‘Well, the last coach got them both, I’ll take them both.’ He said, ‘Obviously you don’t understand our cap situation.’ I said, ‘Obviously, I don’t.”
So it was an either/or situation for Chucky and it seems like Chucky didn’t want to break up the great Bucs defense. Chucky said then, and often says now, if you don’t have a closer late in the game to put a quarterback on his ass, you can’t win a Super Bowl.
Rice was that closer.
“So we ended up signing Simeon and had to let Warrick go” Chucky said. “And he goes right in our division with McKay to Atlanta. And rivalry was born.”
Dunn would have been the perfect back for Chucky’s West Coast offense. Dunn was an underrated inside runner and he was lightning on the outside.
And of course, Dunn had excellent hands.
Everything worked out for the Bucs. Even though Michael Pittman was never in Dunn’s league, Pittman likely had his best game when you needed it the most: In the January 2003 Super Bowl.
The Bucs’ first Super Bowl win.
Hat tip: @RJBrown129
Ricky Williams flipped the script on me and asked ME who are some of the best running backs I got to coach! pic.twitter.com/0G4EiJ2XvD
— Jon Gruden (@BarstoolGruden) June 5, 2026
June 8th, 2026 at 9:12 am
Good story. I remember as a fan being vaguely aware of that situation, the fact that we wouldn’t be able to keep them both. I too think we made the right choice. Warrick was great though.
June 8th, 2026 at 9:22 am
That was a GREAT interview!
I encourage everyone to watch
June 8th, 2026 at 10:05 am
Coach, Do You Want Baker, or do you want the rest of the team?”
Suppose that at the end of the season the Bucs have a defense that is top ten, knocking on top five, and looking at free agents Vita Vea, YaYa Diaby, Robinson, Muhammad, and Nelson.
Suppose the offensive line is rock steady, and the Bucs are looking at free agents Mauch, Skule, Kief and Feeney.
Suppose that Chris Godwin has a full season putting up the numbers he was putting up in 2024 before his injury and you are looking at his free agency.
And, special teams has a great year with Chase McLaughlin and Riley Dixon popping up as free agents with other big name coming the next year. Oh, and maybe you would actually like to make a splash signing on the D?
At what number do you say, Baker we love you, but we can have 1 cap casualty or a boat load.
The Salary Cap has been going up about 8% per year. On a four year extension, the salaries may zoom right past a player who wrecks his team by demanding top money up front leaving a gold plated QB on a team that isn’t competitive because it can’t afford to keep or compete for free agents.
So, offer 4 years at $45M per year for 2027-2030, fully guaranteed, but add escalators equal to each year’s salary cap increase for every year that results in a playoff appearance.
This is a win-win. The Bucs take a smaller cap hit up front. Baker doesn’t get left behind. Keep winning, and he never plays for that $45M number.
If the Bucs make the playoffs this year, as they certainly should, Baker’s escalated 2027 salary would be about $48.6M.
Make the playoffs again, and Baker’s escalated 2028 salary would be about $52.8M.
Keep winning, and 2029 would escalate to about $56.7M, and 2030 would escalate to about $61.2M.
If that is not good enough, use the money to keep building a solid team and give some other QB a shot at resurrecting their career.
June 8th, 2026 at 10:20 am
Warrick Dunn with a ring would in the Hall of Fame. Great career. Great person.
June 8th, 2026 at 10:26 am
Dunn was a wonder to watch but 100/100 times you take Simeon Rice. I remember the Colts gave Edgerrin James a SB ring because they won one the first year he left. Dunn was a dog. And a good guy too.
June 8th, 2026 at 10:49 am
Dunn made a huge mistake running away to Atlanta in 2001. We won the SB w/o him. I hope ME13 makes the same mistake.
June 8th, 2026 at 11:03 am
Oh, for the days when the Bucs played great defense and closed out games at the end for the win.
June 8th, 2026 at 11:04 am
I barely remember Warrick coming back to the Bucs. I wish he were more involved with the Bucs, but I guess it’s a two-way street. He probably closed the door on football once he retired. Great guy, great player. He and A-Train were fun to watch.
June 8th, 2026 at 11:09 am
Toopanca
Interesting contract proposal, I am surprised I never heard this proposed (although it may have been in some form). Being the money is all guaranteed, it could be inviting to Baker’s camp?
Until you have someone better, should the team be so quick to move on??
June 8th, 2026 at 11:45 am
You can escalate his money over the course of the contract without making him play for performance incentives.
June 8th, 2026 at 11:53 am
Buc4eva did you even read the headline let alone the whole article. Dunn did not run away. We weren’t resigning him. Hence the title of the article do you want Dunn or Rice.
June 8th, 2026 at 12:24 pm
I remember Dunn coming back but I forgot it was with Gruden.
June 8th, 2026 at 12:27 pm
I held a grudge for years thinking he left for more money, I didn’t know we couldn’t afford him.
June 8th, 2026 at 12:51 pm
toopanca Says:
“Coach, Do You Want Baker, or do you want the rest of the team?”
Huge exaggeration
June 8th, 2026 at 12:58 pm
It would’ve loved Warrick to stay he deserved a ring but I would have chosen Simeon he was a bad Aztec.
June 8th, 2026 at 1:09 pm
It’s Todd Bowles and Bakers fault!
June 8th, 2026 at 1:32 pm
I totally forgot about this, but signing Rice originally was controversial as teams accused the Bucs of circumventing the salary cap – and the Bucs themselves even published an article on their own website denying anything was out of the ordinary and it was all on the up and up, nothing to see here.
—
The Bucs website
Normal Negotiations
March 22, 2001
The Bucs’ deal with Simeon Rice took a little longer to finish than some expected, but not because of concerns over salary cap games
…Contrary to those reports, the Buccaneers’ deal with Rice was never rejected by the league office, and concerns were not expressed over a supposed attempt to circumvent the salary cap.
——————
In 2001, Rice signed a 5-year deal, terms not disclosed… but it turned out the contract for 2001 called for $1M salary, no signing bonus, and nothing guaranteed. The numbers went up a lot from there, but that was apparently what triggered the rest of the NFL.
There is nothing about anything being done with his deal in 2002. So if what Gruden is saying is accurate, I guess the Bucs would have considered cutting Rice since he had no guaranteed money (which seems absurd).
The deal was then restructured in 2003 to create salary cap room from whatever that mystery deal called for.
June 8th, 2026 at 1:55 pm
I think the coolest thing about this story to me is there are a lot of people that knock grudens super bowl with us saying its dungys team but a decision like this I think is a huge one.
He was given a hard choice. Boost YOUR offense which you love to do OR keep the core dominant defense together.
Shows how much Gruden believe in himself that if he could keep that defense top tier that he could figure out ways to get the offense at least average (considering where it was historically) to get us to compete for the super bowl
Great interview and a great way to see how high level decisisons were made.