From the Iowa cornfields through his first five years in Green Bay, hardly anyone noticed Bryce Paup.
The unassuming linebacker couldn't hide this season after leading the NFL with 17 1/2 sacks and helping the Buffalo Bills build one of the best defenses in the league.Paup was named 1995 Defensive Player of the Year on Thursday after receiving 73 votes in balloting by a nationwide panel of 88 sports writers and broadcasters.
"It turned out better than what I thought it was going to be like," Paup said. "I just wanted to come in here and contribute and make the coaches and scouts here glad they brought me in."
Contribute?
Paup put together the best season of his career after signing a three-year contract worth $7.6 million with Buffalo. He was not offered a contract after making the Pro Bowl last year with Green Bay, which initially blamed the salary cap, but has since admitted making a mistake.
"I learned a very valuable lesson," Packers general manager Ron Wolf said. "I made a miscalculation about Bryce Paup, and I'll own up to it. He's a heck of a football player, and we were sorry we lost him."
The 6-foot-5, 247-pound Paup entered the season among the most coveted free agents and finished as the most productive. He had 15 sacks through the first 11 games before opposing offenses stopped double-teaming Bruce Smith and started doubling up on Paup.
Paup's potential was not recognized coming out of high school in Scranton, a small town in Iowa where he helped his father on a farm. He was taken by Green Bay in the fifth round of the 1990 draft out of Northern Iowa and turned into one of the Packers' best linebackers.
Fortunately for Buffalo, the Packers balked at their own free agent after paying him less than $600,000 last season, even though Paup showed the versatility to play several different positions his first five years.
In football-crazed Buffalo, Paup has become one of the more recognizable faces on a team that went to four Super Bowls and includes Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas and Smith. With each Paup sack this season, more fans started wearing No. 95 jerseys.