8. Buccaneers DE Simeon Rice – 2001-2006

By Trevor Sikkema

Growing up on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, Rice had a troubled past. For part of his childhood, he lived in a neighborhood that was noted for gang related activities. At school, he was a headache. He was in more than his fair share of fights, and even took swings at teachers sometimes. This is the part of the story where Simeon would find football and stop being so rebellious, but that wasn’t the case.

Bucs DE Simeon Rice – Photo by: Getty Images

Even when he started playing football, the trouble kid Rice was bled over to the field. He was originally a running back, but because of the depth on the roster at that position, the coached moved him to tight end and defensive end. Though extremely talented, Rice fought the move, purposefully dropping passes and not taking reps seriously. It wasn’t until before his senior year when his coach sat him down and told him he could have a bright future if he just took defensive end seriously that he began to change. That year was his best ever, and he even had the momentum-swinging play of the game with a sack in the state championship to lead a comeback victory. But, despite his new focus, it was too late bigger for school to trust him, so he enrolled at the University of Illinois.

After three days of practice, Illinois defensive coordinator, Denny Marcin, told Rice’s parents that Simeon was, “destined for greatness” – and knew what greatness looked like after coaching Lawrence Taylor at North Carolina. In Rice’s first year, he broke the school record for most sacks by a first-year player with nine. In his junior season, he had 16 sacks, another school record. After deciding to come back for his senior season, Rice had matured from the once trouble kid he was just five or six years before. That season, he became the big ten’s all-time sack leader and finished his degree on time.

Rice was selected No. 3 overall in the 1996 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals. At the end of the season, Rice had 12.5 sacks, which tied a rookie record, and he was voted NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year by the Associated Press. The next few years the Cardinals struggled, even though Rice had 16.5 sacks and was named to his first Pro-Bowl in 1999. Because of the team’s poor perfromance and multiple contract disputes, Rice decided he would not return in free agency.

Bucs DE Simeon Rice in Super Bowl XXXVII

In 2001, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed Rice to a 5-year deal worth more than $30 million. In his first season as a Buccaneer, Rice had 64 tackles and 11 sacks. The team made the playoffs, but fell to the Philadelphia Eagles, 31-9. The following year, the Buccaneers traded for head coach, Jon Gruden, and the rest was history. In 2002, Rice had 15.5 sacks, including 11 sacks in a 5-game span, on the way to helping Tampa Bay have a No. 1 ranked defense and win a Super Bowl Trophy.

Rice finished his 12-year NFL career with 122 sacks – 69.5 of those came in a Buccaneers’ uniform. He’s currently ranked 19th all-time in NFL history for his career sacks, and is third behind only Lee Roy Selmon and Warren Sapp for the Bucs’ career sacks record.

Sikkema’s Take: “There are good free agent acquisitions, there are great free agent acquisitions, and then there’s Simeon Rice. Rice is the greatest free agent signing in Tampa Bay Buccaneers history; in talent, in production and in reward. He was a key part in the team’s lone Super Bowl victory, and he deserves to be a Top 10 Buccaneers of all time forever.”