Derrick Brooks

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is a better place now that Derrick Brooks is a member of that elite fraternity, Martin Fennelly writes.

Derrick Brooks, who always arrived to the football in a hurry during a glorious 14-year career with the Buccaneers, took his sweet time with his induction Saturday night.

Tonight, I guess for the first time in my life, I get the chance to sit back and enjoy some of the success of my individual career in the ultimate team game. When we just unveiled that bust, I realized this is what it’s all about, there’...

CANTON, Ohio — Hours before he addressed the Hall of Fame fraternity in his enshrinement speech, Derrick Brooks spoke emotionally to his Buccaneer family.

Enshrinement weekend festivities are underway at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, where former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Derrick Brooks will be inducted during a ceremony on Saturday night.

Derrick Brooks hardly needs a new endeavor, but the newest member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame just embarked on yet another mission.

The party would have been louder. No doubt. And whether it would have been on the grounds of the Pro Football Hall of Fame or at the hotel or anywhere else, Geraldine Brooks-Mitchell, Derrick Brooks’ mother, would have been running things, celebrating, music blasting, grill going, laughter everywhere. Love, too.

CANTON, Ohio — Batting leadoff at the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony Saturday night, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Derrick Brooks is planning on going off script during his acceptance speech....

TAMPA — Very quickly, visitors to Booker T. Washington High in Pensacola realize that Derrick Brooks once passed through the halls.

Editor’s note: Tony Dungy was Derrick Brooks’ head coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996 to 2001. Dungy, a Tampa resident who won Super Bowl XLI with the Colts in 2007, is a football analyst with NBC Sports.

TAMPA — His “office’’ was tucked away inside the relative quiet of the linebackers’ meeting room, far from the commotion of the congested locker room and the chatter at the end of the chow line....

TAMPA — Monte Kiffin used to joke about it.

A look at Derrick Brooks' career, honors and statistics.

TAMPA — There’s Deion, of course. There’s Charlie Ward, the program’s first Heisman Trophy winner. There’s probably Jameis Winston, too, even with a smaller sample size.

TAMPA — The trend that resulted in the passing game becoming the NFL’s dominant mode of attack was just beginning when the Buccaneers drafted a linebacker out of Florida State to help them defend it.

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Derrick Brooks will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame during a ceremony on Sat., Aug. 2, in Canton, Ohio. Recently, Brooks sat down for an interview with TBO Seen reporter Olivia Stacey and shared h...

TAMPA — When Derrick Brooks intercepted the 39th of Rich Gannon’s 44 passes and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown to seal the Bucs’ victory over the Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII, Warrick Dunn just sort of shrugged his shoulder...

TAMPA — While a debate raged in the Buccaneers War Room during the spring of 1995, Derrick Brooks was chilling out in his hometown of Pensacola, hoping some NFL team was savvy enough to draft him in the opening round....

At his Tampa home, he still has all his notebooks from all those game weeks for all those seasons with the Buccaneers, from the first to the last, always the details, every line highlighted.

Editor’s note: Warren Sapp was Derrick Brooks’ teammate for nine seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013, and is an analyst for the NFL Network.

TAMPA — His “office’’ was tucked away inside the relative quiet of the linebackers’ meeting room, far from the commotion of the congested locker room and the chatter at the end of the chow line....

TAMPA — Monte Kiffin used to joke about it.

A look at Derrick Brooks' career, honors and statistics.

TAMPA — There’s Deion, of course. There’s Charlie Ward, the program’s first Heisman Trophy winner. There’s probably Jameis Winston, too, even with a smaller sample size.

TAMPA — The trend that resulted in the passing game becoming the NFL’s dominant mode of attack was just beginning when the Buccaneers drafted a linebacker out of Florida State to help them defend it.

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Derrick Brooks will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame during a ceremony on Sat., Aug. 2, in Canton, Ohio. Recently, Brooks sat down for an interview with TBO Seen reporter Olivia Stacey and shared h...

TAMPA — When Derrick Brooks intercepted the 39th of Rich Gannon’s 44 passes and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown to seal the Bucs’ victory over the Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII, Warrick Dunn just sort of shrugged his shoulder...

TAMPA — While a debate raged in the Buccaneers War Room during the spring of 1995, Derrick Brooks was chilling out in his hometown of Pensacola, hoping some NFL team was savvy enough to draft him in the opening round....

At his Tampa home, he still has all his notebooks from all those game weeks for all those seasons with the Buccaneers, from the first to the last, always the details, every line highlighted.

Editor’s note: Warren Sapp was Derrick Brooks’ teammate for nine seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013, and is an analyst for the NFL Network.