A new Pewter Report Roundtable debuts every Tuesday on PewterReport.com. Each week, the Pewter Reporters tackle another tough question. This week’s prompt: Who should be the next Bucs Ring of Honor Inductee?

Scott Reynolds: The Bucs’ Turnaround Began With Hardy Nickerson

Former Bucs LB Hardy Nickerson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The team may or may not induct a player into the Bucs Ring of Honor this year. Tampa Bay elected not to last year, instead recognizing legendary cornerback Ronde Barber’s berth into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But if the Bucs are going to induct someone into the Ring of Honor, it’s time that Hardy Nickerson got his due. I could see the franchise try to induct Super Bowl LV champion Tom Brady this year after putting Super Bowl-winning head coach Bruce Arians in the Ring of Honor during the 2022 season, which was the last year there was an induction. I could also see the Bucs going with pass rusher and Super Bowl XXXVII champion Simeon Rice sooner rather than later.

But it’s time that middle linebacker Hardy Nickerson got his due from the Bucs organization. Nickerson was a huge free agent signing in 1993 when Tampa Bay lured him away from Pittsburgh. He earned the first of five Pro Bowls and four All-Pros that season while leading the NFL in tackles with 214, which still stands as a single-season franchise record. Nickerson started 104 games over seven years in Tampa Bay and notched nine sacks and seven interceptions while forcing 13 fumbles and recovering nine fumbles.

More importantly than his impressive stats and accomplishments, Nickerson was the intimidator and tone-setter of the organization. He began turning the Yuccaneers into the Buccaneers and then passed the leadership baton to the likes of Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch and Ronde Barber. Nickerson helped the Bucs make the playoffs in 1997 and register the team’s first postseason win since 1979, and then capture an NFC Central division title in 1999 with a then-franchise best 11-5 record. It’s time for Nickerson, who joined the Bucs radio broadcast in 2006 and also coached Tampa Bay’s linebackers from 2014-15, to get the recognition he deserves.

Matt Matera: Tom Brady Was A Culture-Changer As Bucs Became Winners Again

Bucs QB Tom Brady – Photo by: USA Today

Tom Brady should be the next Bucs member into the Ring Of Honor because he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer, the greatest quarterback of all time, and helped change the Bucs’ culture as they won Super Bowl LV together as team in Brady’s first year in Tampa.

Though Brady was only with Tampa Bay for three seasons, he certainly made the most of his time. He took the Bucs out of obscurity and made them the most talked about team across the league, which grew even more after they won the Super Bowl, their second in franchise history. And when it came to franchise records, he holds the Bucs’ single season record for passing yards (5,316) and touchdowns (43) in a season. Brady is also third in career passing yards with 14,643 and second in career passing touchdowns with 108 three years.

Adding to his career accolades, Brady broke the NFL’s all-time passing yards record and touchdown record while in a Bucs uniform. As a team, Brady helped the Bucs to a franchise-best 13 wins in the 2021 regular season as they won the NFC South. When you put it all together between winning the Super Bowl in the Bucs’ own stadium, winning a Super Bowl MVP, having a monumental impact on the city and the league and also breaking several records, there’s no question that Brady should be in the Ring of Honor. Since he’s calling games for FOX this season it’ll be tougher to get him into Raymond James Stadium this season unless he’s calling a Bucs game, but they can make it work.

Bailey Adams: Simeon Rice … The FIFTH Inductee From 2002 Defense

Bucs DE Simeon Rice
Photo By: USA Today

Scott Reynolds picked a good one with Hardy Nickerson, and James Wilder is another name that comes to mind when considering former Bucs legends whose Ring of Honor inductions are overdue. But one (or both) of those guys would be good choices to be inducted into the Ring of Honor during the team’s 50th anniversary season in 2025.

So, for 2024, I think it’s time to finally give Simeon Rice his permanent place inside Raymond James Stadium. Doing so would make him the FIFTH member of Tampa Bay’s 2002 Super Bowl-winning defense to be inducted (and the sixth if you include coordinator Monte Kiffin). Rice has a legitimate Pro Football Hall of Fame case, though it’s often opined that there’s no way five members of the same defense will be immortalized in Canton.

Whether that’s the case or not, that’s no reason to hold Rice out of the Bucs Ring of Honor. You can’t tell the story of that all-time great 2002 defense without Rice, who posted 15.5 sacks, 12 tackles for loss and 11 passes defensed that year. He then went on to put up four sacks during the Bucs’ run to Super Bowl XXXVII, with two of those coming in the 48-21 Super Bowl victory over the Raiders. In addition to helping the franchise win its first Lombardi Trophy, he was a two-time Pro Bowler and one-time first-team All-Pro during his six seasons in Tampa.

Rice also ranks third in team history with 69.5 career sacks. He was a quarterback’s nightmare, and as one of the best pass rushers in team history, he’ll soon have his Bucs Ring of Honor induction day.

Josh Queipo: Gene Deckerhoff – The Voice of The Bucs

Gene Deckerhoff has spent an unprecedented 35 seasons with the Bucs. That’s longer than Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds has covered the team!

His “Touchdown Tampa Bay!” and “Fire the cannons!” calls are some of the most iconic in the sport, and Deckerhoff has seen it all in his time with the Bucs. Both of the organization’s Super Bowl titles have come with Deckerhoff manning the play-by-play mic for the Bucs radio broadcast, and he is as synonymous with Buccaneer football as any of the current members of the Ring of Honor.

Deckerhoff has not announced whether he will return for year 36, but regardless of whether he will be officially retired or not in 2024, he should be honored with the enshrinement. And to be honest I am committed to this answer because I personally laid claim to banging the drum for Deckerhoff last season writing, “Whenever Deckerhoff decides to finally hang up his microphone cord, we at Pewter Report will be banging the drum to include him in the Bucs Ring of Honor to complete his deserving accolades.”

Adam Slivon: James Wilder’s Induction Is LONG Overdue

The Bucs only have four players in their Ring of Honor who played their whole career before the team’s 2002 and 2020 Super Bowl-winning teams – Lee Roy Selmon, Doug Williams, Jimmie Giles, and Paul Gruber. Although it was a time when Tampa Bay did not experience a ton of success on the field, it is worth recognizing some of the players who first put the team on the map and immortalizing their names for the next generation of football fans.

Former Bucs RB James Wilder – Photo courtesy of the Buccaneers

That is where the discussion should start when considering James Wilder’s induction. 

Last month James Wilders’ son reignited the conversation after his dad recently turned 66 years old. It has been a long time since the elder Wilder suited up in the creamsicle uniforms, but he had quite the run when he did. He was one of the few bright spots on the mid-1980s Bucs teams, especially by carrying the load in 1984 and 1985. 1984 was his biggest year, with 1,544 rushing yards and 685 receiving yards. Contextualizing this in modern times, the Bucs have not had a 1,000-yard rusher since Doug Martin back in 2015.

Dear @Buccaneers
Appreciate calling pops a legend every year for his birthday. But we already know that. He holds multiple records on your team. Countless community awards and the key to city.

Can your record holder be honored with the other Bucs greats in the ring of honor? pic.twitter.com/xOA9fyfgdd

— Coach Wilder (@IAm_Wilder32) May 14, 2024

Wilder may not have had the longest peak, but he was the first true dominant offensive player for Tampa Bay. For a long time, he had the most rushing attempts, rushing yards, and receptions in team history, and he still ranks third in receptions behind star wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Simply put, adding him to the Ring of Honor is long overdue and it would be another way for the team to bridge the past to the present. It remains to be seen if the Glazers would add a player they do not have a connection with, but it would be a nice gesture to finally induct James Wilder.