TAMPA - Welcome to the homecoming that really isn't. At least that's how Warrick Dunn sees things upon his return to the Bucs after six years away.
Tony Dungy was Dunn's last coach in Tampa. He practiced at a rat-infested hovel out by the airport. He shared backfield time with Mike Alstott, and the quarterback was Brad Johnson.
"There are only two guys here from before," he said.
That would be Derrick Brooks and Ronde Barber. Neither had a Super Bowl ring when Dunn left town.
But as Dunn came off the field at the Bucs' new training facility after an optional workout last week, it was clear that one important thing hasn't changed. He still wants to play and produce, and he has an unmistakable message for anyone who thinks the Bucs brought him here to be a spare part.
"I would never consider myself a third-down back. It's not my mentality. I don't play the game that way," he said. "I don't think Coach Jon Gruden brought me here just to play on third down. He believes in me, and I just have to go out and prove it."
He will get his chance.
"I see him as being a front-line guy," Gruden said. "He is going to play a lot."
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