A Super Bowl winner, two-time Pro Bowler and one of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ finest pass rushers, Simeon Rice is now garnering the franchise’s highest honor.
Rice will become the 16th inductee into the Buccaneers Ring of Honor this upcoming season, the team announced Monday. He's set to be inducted during a halftime ceremony of Tampa Bay's Week 13 home matchup against the Arizona Cardinals on Nov. 30.
"During his Hall of Fame-worthy 12-year career, Simeon Rice established himself as one of the most dominant pass rushers in NFL history and is immensely deserving of his place as the 16th member in the Buccaneers Ring of Honor," said Buccaneers owner/co-chairman Bryan Glazer, via the team's website. "Simeon arrived in Tampa prior to the 2001 season and immediately elevated our defense into one of the greatest of all-time. He left an indelible mark on our franchise, and we look forward to honoring and celebrating his great career this upcoming season."
In an NFL career that spanned 12 seasons with appearances for four teams, Rice played from 2001-06 with the Bucs, going to two of his three career Pro Bowls with the franchise and starting for the Super Bowl XXXVII winners.
He racked up 69.5 sacks for Tampa, which is officially second in club history behind his former teammate Warren Sapp (77 sacks) and unofficially third, as Lee Roy Selmon tallied 78.5, according to Pro Football Reference.
Taken third overall in the 1996 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals, Rice joined the Bucs ahead of the 2001 campaign and began a string of five straight seasons with double-digit sacks for the squad. A Pro Bowler in 2002-03, he combined for 30.5 sacks in that span and also led the NFL with six forced fumbles in ’03.
It was 2002 that proved to be the pinnacle for Rice and the Bucs, who won the franchise’s first Super Bowl. Under head coach Jon Gruden and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, Rice fit the Bucs to aplomb and sparkled in Tampa’s 48-21 win over the Oakland Raiders to capture Super Bowl XXXVII. He posted five tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble in the victory, which culminated a phenomenal postseason run in which he had a sack and a forced fumble in each of the Bucs’ games.
Rice will be the 10th former player enshrined in the Buccaneers Ring of Honor. Of those players Rice will join, five are former Bucs teammates -- Sapp, Derrick Brooks, Mike Alstott, Ronde Barber and John Lynch.
Rice, now 51, also had 250 tackles, 67 for loss, four interceptions and 19 forced fumbles during his time with the Bucs. In his career, which ended with stints for the Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts, Rice totaled 122 sacks, 483 tackles, 93 for loss, five picks and 28 forced fumbles.