Hall of Fame defensive tackle Warren Sapp has doubled down on his resistance to Timmy Jernigan's supposed tribute to him.
About six days after the young Ravens defensive tackle said he was changing his number from No. 97 to No. 99 because he grew up idolizing Sapp, the former Tampa Bay Buccaneer explained why he wasn't a fan of the idea in an interview with Mark Cook of PewterReport.com.
Sapp apparently is miffed that Jernigan never took him up on his offer to get together despite the fact that Sapp reached out to Jernigan following the 2014 draft.
"For someone to say, 'Hey, I want to pay tribute to someone, and I have their phone number,' I would think you might want to try and call that person and say, 'Hey dawg, I was thinking something…' You know what I am saying," Sapp said.
Sapp, as he usually does, said plenty more, indicating to PewterReport.com that he's just trying to "hold up my standard."
"I'm only the fifth defensive tackle first-ballot Hall of Famer in NFL history – the ones before me were Bob Lilly, Merlin Olsen, Mean Joe Greene and Randy White," Sapp said. "I am in a company of five, so when you talk about me, you better bring the other four with me because that is the standard that I held myself to. … Go out and make a name for yourself for you. Don't go and use a first-ballot defensive tackle that you will now be judged against. Are you kidding me? Who signed up for that?"
Sapp's initial response to Jernigan's number change came last week via Twitter: "How do I stop this?" Sapp wrote.
The controversial defensive lineman got skewered by reporters and fans who questioned why he was against a talented young player wanting to honor him. Sapp, though, held his ground.
Sapp said he had conversations with new Ravens defensive line coach Joe Cullen, who previously coached with the Buccaneers, about coming to Baltimore and possibly helping out.
I can't imagine that's still in the cards.