Simeon Rice, the erudite, eccentric sack machine who helped Tampa Bay win its first Super Bowl, will be the 16th member of the Buccaneers Ring of Honor.
Rice, 51, racked up 69.5 of his 122 career sacks with the Bucs, including two (plus five tackles and forced fumble) in the 48-21 victory over the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII to cap the 2002 season.
At 6-foot-5 and 278 pounds, Rice’s rangy athleticism was a main cog in the league’s No. 1-ranked defense that year, along with future Hall of Famers and Ring of Honor members Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch and Ronde Barber.
That season, he amassed 15.5 sacks, including 11 over a five-game span.
After joining the Bucs as a free agent from the Arizona Cardinals in 2001, he was one of the most productive players in the NFL, with 67½ sacks in his first five seasons in Tampa Bay. He was named to three Pro Bowls.
Off the field, he was known for his charismatic, engaging personality.
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“I'm a free spirit,” he once said. “A spirit that evolves. I'm a diamond. I'm just refining it. Polishing it. Glossing it up.”
He announced the Bucs’ second- and third-round picks in last month’s NFL draft, possibly an early sign of his impending honor.
Rice, who played six of his 12 NFL seasons in Tampa Bay, was the third overall pick in 1996 draft by the Cardinals and went on to become NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.
He will be the first player named to the Ring of Honor since Barber in 2019.
The team, which unveiled the Ring of Honor in 2009, displays the members’ names along the third-tier frieze of Raymond James Stadium.
Previous inductees: Lee Roy Selmon, John McKay, Jimmie Giles, Paul Gruber, Sapp, Brooks, Mike Alstott, Doug Williams, Jon Gruden, Lynch, Dungy, Barber, Malcolm Glazer, Monte Kiffin and Bruce Arians.
Gruden, who coached that 2002 Super Bowl team, was reinstated to the Ring of Honor in February. He was removed in 2021 because of 7-year-old emails he sent containing inappropriate comments that led to his resignation as the Raiders’ head coach.
The Bucs have not yet selected a game for Rice’s induction.
The team has scheduled a media gathering for Monday to officially announce more details, according to the Tampa Bay Times, which first reported the news.
