Simeon Rice will be inducted in the Buccaneers Ring of Honor: 'A cool thing'
By Rick Mayer
May 16, 2025 at 12:58 PM EDT
Rice was a defensive force credited with 69.5 sacks over his six seasons in Tampa Bay. That includes a stellar Super Bowl XXXVII performance. His induction is Nov. 30 during halftime of Cardinals game.
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.
His induction ceremony will take place during halftime of the Bucs' home game against the Arizona Cardinals, who drafted Rice in 1996.
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 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.
Bucs co-owner and co-chairman Bryan Glazer said Rice is "overdue" in joining those Tampa Bay teammates with busts in the Canton, Ohio, shrine.
"Simeon's credentials for induction into our Ring of Honor are unquestioned, but he's equally qualified and deserving of an overdue call from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Notably, he's the only retired player with 100 sacks over eight consecutive seasons who doesn't own a gold jacket. It's time to rectify that oversight," Glazer said Monday during the team's official Ring of Honor announcement.
After joining the Bucs as a free agent from the 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.
Rice said that at one point, he felt like he "absolutely" needed Hall of Fame recognition, then added, "I'm not burdened by that anymore."
That feeling grew after his parents died in 2015 and 2016.
"I was like, 'I want to get the call before my father and my mom, but more so my pops,' " Rice said as he teared up during the media gathering in Tampa. "... I remember my mom and my dad on their death beds, and I remember my father was like, 'Sim, this going to happen.' I'm like, 'Dad, don't worry about that.' "
Rice said raising his 2-year-old son has replaced his obsession with football. So being in the Ring "picks a scab" and helps him "reconcile a lot of things within my own soul."
Long known for his charismatic, engaging personality, Rice once said: “I'm a free spirit. A spirit that evolves. I'm a diamond. I'm just refining it. Polishing it. Glossing it up.”
Rice, who said that 2002 Bucs defense was the second best in NFL history, behind the 1985 Chicago Bears, still shows plenty of bravado years later but far more modesty, noting that being in the Ring of Honor is "a cool thing."
"There are certain entitlements," he continued. "These are manmade things. So these aren't real things. We live real lives. The moment is real. The experience is real. Mine was more in philosophy of an emotional connection with my parents. That was it. You know what I mean? That was it."
He will be the first player named to the Ring of Honor since Barber in 2019 and 10th overall.
"Nothing like being accepted and being honored at home," Rice said. "It's nothing like being honored by a team that you helped take to the next level. And I really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart to raise to this level."
ALSO READ: Bucs' 50th season will open on the road. The schedule includes four night games
Rice announced the Bucs’ second- and third-round picks in last month’s NFL draft, possibly an early sign of his impending honor.
"He left an indelible mark on our franchise," Glazer said, "and we look forward to honoring and celebrating his great career this upcoming season."
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.
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, Tony Dungy, Barber, Malcolm Glazer, Monte Kiffin and Bruce Arians.
Dungy, the head coach and architect of that 2002 defense, is also in the Hall of Fame.
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.
His induction ceremony will take place during halftime of the Bucs' home game against the Arizona Cardinals, who drafted Rice in 1996.
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 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.
Bucs co-owner and co-chairman Bryan Glazer said Rice is "overdue" in joining those Tampa Bay teammates with busts in the Canton, Ohio, shrine.
"Simeon's credentials for induction into our Ring of Honor are unquestioned, but he's equally qualified and deserving of an overdue call from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Notably, he's the only retired player with 100 sacks over eight consecutive seasons who doesn't own a gold jacket. It's time to rectify that oversight," Glazer said Monday during the team's official Ring of Honor announcement.
After joining the Bucs as a free agent from the 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.
Rice said that at one point, he felt like he "absolutely" needed Hall of Fame recognition, then added, "I'm not burdened by that anymore."
That feeling grew after his parents died in 2015 and 2016.
"I was like, 'I want to get the call before my father and my mom, but more so my pops,' " Rice said as he teared up during the media gathering in Tampa. "... I remember my mom and my dad on their death beds, and I remember my father was like, 'Sim, this going to happen.' I'm like, 'Dad, don't worry about that.' "
Rice said raising his 2-year-old son has replaced his obsession with football. So being in the Ring "picks a scab" and helps him "reconcile a lot of things within my own soul."
Long known for his charismatic, engaging personality, Rice once said: “I'm a free spirit. A spirit that evolves. I'm a diamond. I'm just refining it. Polishing it. Glossing it up.”
Rice, who said that 2002 Bucs defense was the second best in NFL history, behind the 1985 Chicago Bears, still shows plenty of bravado years later but far more modesty, noting that being in the Ring of Honor is "a cool thing."
"There are certain entitlements," he continued. "These are manmade things. So these aren't real things. We live real lives. The moment is real. The experience is real. Mine was more in philosophy of an emotional connection with my parents. That was it. You know what I mean? That was it."
He will be the first player named to the Ring of Honor since Barber in 2019 and 10th overall.
"Nothing like being accepted and being honored at home," Rice said. "It's nothing like being honored by a team that you helped take to the next level. And I really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart to raise to this level."
ALSO READ: Bucs' 50th season will open on the road. The schedule includes four night games
Rice announced the Bucs’ second- and third-round picks in last month’s NFL draft, possibly an early sign of his impending honor.
"He left an indelible mark on our franchise," Glazer said, "and we look forward to honoring and celebrating his great career this upcoming season."
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.
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, Tony Dungy, Barber, Malcolm Glazer, Monte Kiffin and Bruce Arians.
Dungy, the head coach and architect of that 2002 defense, is also in the Hall of Fame.
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.