Anticipation is without a doubt at an all-time high for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2017 NFL season. After finishing 9-7 and above .500 for the first time since 2010 last year, fans across the country believe the Bucs are finally on the brink of a long awaited playoff birth for the first time since 2007, and Hall of Fame linebacker Derrick Brooks, who helped lead the Bucs to back-to-back playoff appearances which resulted in the Bucs’ one Super Bowl victory in 2002, says he can feel the hype surrounding the 2017 Bucs and believes this team is finally en route to the post season. Brooks added that one of the main reasons why is because of all the similarities he sees between this team and his former one.

“We were kind of built the same way,” Brooks told USA TODAY Sports. “Our third year was when we made the playoffs and took our run. I see very (many) similarities to this team that year.”

After all, the Bucs made a splash in both free agency as well as the draft, landing numerous weapons to aid in forming one of the most explosive units in the NFL thanks to DeSean Jackson, O.J. Howard, Chris Godwin and a plethora of targets that have joined the Buccaneers’ soon-to-be lethal offense.

In addition, general manager Jason Licht, coach Koetter and the entire franchise spent the offseason loading the roster up with plenty of talented playmakers on both sides of the ball, they finally threw in the towel with Roberto Aguayo and the staff made other important cuts to ensure they reach their goal of making it to the post season this year.

So, as you can imagine there’s a lot of playoff buzz surrounding the city of Tampa right now and Brooks says the 2017 Bucs have earned every single ounce of it.

“I think they deserve it,” Brooks said. “You look at the building process of getting here, I’m excited to see the learning lesson from the past two years to take that third step.”

The future is definitely bright for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and with the way things appear right now, it doesn’t look like it will be very long at all until the Bucs follow Brooks’ footsteps and clinch their very own Super Bowl ring soon.

It’s only a mtter of time.