Simeon Rice has been announced as the next member of the Buccaneers’ Ring of Honor, but Buccaneers co-owner Bryan Glazer is lobbying for Rice to get an even greater recognition.
Glazer called Rice “the missing piece to make our defense one of the greatest of all time” and said that the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s selectors have committed an oversight by not putting Rice in Canton.
“From 1996 to 2005, he totaled a league-best 101.5 sacks over those eight years, more than Hall of Famers Michael Strahan and Jason Taylor,” Glazer said. “During that same stretch, his mark of eight seasons with double-digit sack totals is the seventh most in NFL history, and all six men ahead of him on that list are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 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.”
Rice said getting into the Pro Football Hall of Fame while his parents were still alive would have meant a lot to him because of how much it would have meant to them, but that after his parents died he thought less about it.
“That’s all that meant anything to me,” Rice said. “The only thing that mattered to me was playing football. I loved this game, and it’s how I celebrated my mother and father. And they’re not with me. . . . I’m just thinking about my mother and father.”
The Cardinals drafted Rice out of Illinois with the third overall pick in 1996. After five seasons in Arizona, Rice signed with the Buccaneers in free agency in 2001 and spent six seasons with the Bucs. He then played briefly with the Broncos and Colts before retiring.
Former NFL linebacker Adarius Taylor, who appeared in 88 regular-season games with 18 starts over seven seasons, recently was arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges as part of a human trafficking sting operation in Florida.
Via Silas Morgan of the Orlando Sentinel, Taylor was one of more than 250 who were arrested as part of “Operation Fool Around and Find Out,” which ran from May 2-10.
Taylor faces only misdemeanor charges for solicitation of prostitution. By leaving his six-year-old child in the car while he entered the site of the sting operation, Taylor ended up being charged with felony negligent child abuse without bodily harm.
Per the Polk County sheriff’s office, 141 were charged with soliciting prostitution, 93 were charged with offering to commit prostitution, 10 were charged with offenses related to prostitution such as aiding and abetting or transporting prostitutes, and 11 were charged with traveling to meet a minor for sex or other child sex crimes.
Undrafted in 2014, Taylor played for the Panthers, Buccaneers, and Browns. He appeared in 15 games with 10 starts for the 2018 Buccaneers, where he served as a special-teams captain.
When brainstorming on Saturday the various quarterbacks who are due for new contracts after Brock Purdy got his second deal, I knew I was going to forget to mention someone.
And, of course, I did.
Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield, who’s in the second year of a three-year, $100 million contract, is underpaid relative to other veteran starting quarterbacks. Of course, that makes it a very good deal for the Bucs, who are paying $33.3 million per year for a top-10 quarterback.
This year, Mayfield’s cap number is a very affordable $23.875 million.
An extension, and a raise, becomes likely next year. That’s when Mayfield’s cap number spikes to nearly $50 million, fueled by a salary of $40 million.
However it plays out, Mayfield continues to play better than most quarterbacks. It’s amazing, in hindsight, that he was available to anyone who wanted to sign him in 2024 — and no one who needed a starting quarterback after the 2023 season (Patriots, Steelers, Titans, Raiders, Broncos, Commanders, Giants, Vikings, Bears, Falcons) seemed to give Mayfield serious consideration as an alternative to other free agents or the incoming draft class.
As the list of quarterback contracts goes, Mayfield is currently at the bottom of the top 20. He’s the lowest-paid starting quarterback not on a rookie contract other than Jets quarterback Justin Fields (if, as it seems, he wins the starting job) and Giants quarterback Russell Wilson (if, as he might not, he wins the QB1 job).
To his credit, Mayfield has given no indication that he’s unhappy with his contract. If anything, he’s happy that, after crawling to freedom through five hundred yards of shit-smelling foulness I can’t even imagine, he finally found a long-term NFL home.
It’s good for Mayfield. It’s good for the Buccaneers. And, by next year, he’ll likely get a new deal that pushes him significantly higher on the list of highest-paid NFL quarterbacks.
As it should.
Social media was buzzing on Saturday morning with various videos of what appeared to be an incident involving former NFL receiver Antonio Brown. Near the end of one of the videos, a pair of gunshots could be heard.
Via Devon Cetoute of the Miami Herald, Brown explained that he was “was jumped by multiple individuals who tried to steal my jewelry and cause physical harm to me.” Brown added that, after being briefly detained by police, he was released after the officers “received my side of the story.”
It happened at a boxing event in a Miami warehouse, featuring someone named Adin Ross. (If I was 40 years younger, I’d probably know who that is. If I was 20 years younger, I’d take the time to look it up.)
The videos that surfaced seemed to show Brown being attacked and Brown running through a crowd. In a livestream conducted by Ross, Brown said, “I got CTE, I blacked out. I ain’t know what happened.”
Police arrived after they received an alert that shots had been fired.
No arrests were made. Brown said he’ll explore “pressing charges on the individuals that jumped me.”
Brown last played in the NFL in 2021, after a career that included many spectacular seasons with the Steelers, failed stints with the Raiders and Patriots, and a Super Bowl win in Tampa Bay.
The Jaguars announced the addition of three coaching fellows to their staff on Friday.
Ari Confesor, Anthony Gaitor, and Dawson Odoms have joined the team under the NFL’s Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship program. They will work with the team for the remainder of the offseason program.
Gaitor played 12 games as a defensive back for the Buccaneers in 2011 and 2012. He is the cornerbacks coach at Florida International.
Confesor is the wide receivers coach at Wake Forest and he has scouting experience with the Chiefs in addition to a series of stops at other colleges. Odoms spent the last four seasons as the head coach at Norfolk State before being relieved of his duties late last year.
Buccaneers rookie safety Shilo Sanders has often been overshadowed by his brother and teammate Shedeur, and his father and coach Deion. But as he competes to make a roster spot in Tampa Bay, Shilo Sanders is saying he’s confident he’ll show he belongs in the NFL.
Shilo Sanders was not selected in a draft that was notable for Shedeur falling all the way to the fifth round. But Shilo says he’s not down about it.
“Well, my take on being disappointed in ‘lows’ -- it’s not really ‘low’ because you can’t change the path and you can’t really do anything about something that already happened,” Sanders said, via Jenna Laine of ESPN. “So I just trust God, and I always end up doing something great so I just know it’s going to happen and whatever’s happening currently is to learn or to grow from.”
Sanders is grateful to the Buccaneers for giving him the opportunity to be great.
“The Bucs was the first team to call and they gave me a chance before anyone,” Sanders said. “So I’m forever grateful to the Buccaneers, and I’m just going to do everything I can to help this team win -- everything in my power to help this team win -- and that’s all I want.”
The Buccaneers are set to add their first player to their Ring of Honor since 2019.
Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reports that edge rusher Simeon Rice will be inducted into the group in 2025. Cornerback Ronde Barber was the last player inducted and the Bucs have added former defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin and former head coach Bruce Arians since Barber’s induction.
Rice moved from the Cardinals to the Bucs as a free agent in 2001 and helped the team to its first Super Bowl title in 2002. Rice was a first-team All-Pro after recording 15.5 sacks during the regular season and he posted four sacks and three forced fumbles during the team’s playoff run.
The run in Tampa extended through the 2006 season and Rice had 250 tackles, 69.5 sacks, four interceptions, 19 forced fumbles, and an interception during his time with the Bucs.
The Seahawks have warned their season-ticket holders about “excessive reselling.” The Buccaneers have done something more creative to try to prevent it.
The Buccaneers are introducing a “Ticket Buyback” program for season-ticket members, Greg Auman of Fox Sports reports.
It allows season-ticket holders to return tickets back to the team for up to two games in exchange for a credit toward 2026 season-ticket renewal. The buyback window runs the month of June.
In theory, the team then will resell the tickets to Bucs fans.
Lions, Eagles and Commanders fans have traveled well to games in Tampa in recent seasons.
The Bucs will make a limited number of single-game tickets for 2025 available after the schedule is announced tonight at 8 ET.
The Buccaneers announced a number of changes to the team’s football operations staff on Wednesday.
Rob McCartney has been promoted to assistant General Manager and Mike Biehl is now the team’s vice president of player personnel. McCartney was a director of player personnel and is in his 15th season with the team. Biehl, who is in his 12th year in Tampa, also had that title.
The Buccaneers also announced promotions for college scout Jeremiah Bogan, physical therapist Keairez Coleman, college scout Korey Finnie, senior video director Brett Greene, vice president of performance science Dave Hamilton, director of college scouting Tony Hardie, NFS scout Jordan Morrow, senior director of football operations Shelton Quarles, associate athletic trainer Samantha Richter, director of player personnel Shane Scannell, equipment manager Nick Schmetzer, and video director Matt Taylor.
In addition to those promotions, the Buccaneers hired director of football research Zach Beistline and performance dietitian Patrick O’Brien.
The Bucs signed linebacker Nick Jackson and defensive lineman Dvon J-Thomas on Monday, the team announced. Both players were tryout participants in the club’s rookie minicamp this past weekend.
The Bucs waived linebacker Deion Jennings and tight end Anthony Landphere in corresponding moves.
Jackson played collegiately at the University of Virginia (2019-22) and the University of Iowa (2023-24). He appeared in 73 games — 60 starts — between the two schools and recorded 555 tackles, 33 tackles for loss, 20 passes defensed, 17 sacks, three forced fumbles and one interception.
Jackson’s 73 games played are the most in NCAA history, and his 555 tackles stand as the second-most in FBS history behind only Troy’s Carlton Martial (577 from 2018-22) and ahead of Boston College’s Luke Kuechly (532 from 2009-11). Jackson posted four consecutive 100-tackle seasons from 2020-23.
He received second-team All-ACC honors after the 2022 season and third-team All-Big Ten honors after the 2023 season.
J-Thomas played collegiately at Penn State (2020-24), starting 26 of 60 career games. He logged 93 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and one pass defensed.
He received All-Big Ten honorable mention recognition following each of his final two seasons. In 2024, he started all 16 games and posted a career-high 35 tackles.
