Simeon Rice—'There's No Hall of Fame Without Me In It'

By John Turney 

It may come as a surprise to former defensive end Simeon Rice, but there is, in fact, a Pro Football Hall of Fame that doesn't include him. It was Rice, you might remember, who in 2015 spoke out on his exclusion from Canton -- saying that voters make a mistake each year when they keep overlooking him.

"There's no Hall of Fame without me in it," the former Cardinals and Buccaneers star told SB Nation. "There's no Hall of Fame without me in it. There's just not. I dominated when I played. There was nobody better at my position. Nobody."

That's a matter of opinion. But Rice made his clear later that year in a separate interview with Campus Insiders.

"It (being elected to the Hall of Fame) would be a big honor," he said. "That chapter in my life won't be closed until I put on a yellow jacket. When you go into a career and you play in pro sports, you want to become the best of the best. I am off the south side of Chicago with an ambition and a dream and chased that dream ... I've done it all ... my career is a Hall-of-Fame career."

That's another matter of opinion. But that "chapter" in Rice's life is still open. He hasn't put on a "yellow jacket" despite having played a position that Hall of Fame selectors often favor -- and that's edge rusher. Voters inducted 16 ends/rush linebackers since 1999, but Rice is not among them.

In fact, the former NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year never advanced beyond the list of 25 semifinalists (he did that twice), which means he's never been one of 15 finalists discussed each year.

It's hard to know why because his numbers are better than some edge players inducted in the last quarter century. His 122 sacks in a 12-year career are more than Charles Haley (100.5), Andre Tippett (100) and Fred Dean (93), though some of Dean's came before 1982 and, so, are unofficial.

All three have Gold Jackets, but Rice does not. 

The former University of Illinois standout twice was a first-team All-Pro (once consensus), a three-time Pro Bowler and the 2002 NFL Alumni Defensive Lineman of the Year. Plus, he earned a Super Bowl ring with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where, as a dominant edge rusher, he was just as vital to the Tampa-2 scheme as Hall-of-Famers Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch and Ronde Barber. Granted, the Tampa Bay defense was outstanding before Rice's arrival in 2001, but the addition of his skill set -- i.e., pressuring quarterbacks from the outside -- took it to the next level, and the squad dominated its way to San Diego, where the Bucs demolished the Oakland Raiders, 48-21, in Super Bowl XXXVII.

With five tackles, two sacks and forced a fumble in that game, Rice played a key role in the victory. But he had at least one sack in every Bucs' playoff game while in Tampa, too, not just the 2002 playoff run -- with seven in five games, forcing fumbles in four of them.

Big-time players, it is said, make big-time plays in big-time games. Simeon Rice did. And then some.

He was the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1996 when he produced 12-1/2 sacks for the Arizona Cardinals, who chose him third overall in that year's NFL draft. He was also All-Rookie and an alternate to the Pro Bowl, and his presence helped the Cardinals reach the playoffs in 1998 for the first time since 1975 (excluding the strike-shortened 1982 season).  

It was their first winning season since moving from St. Louis to Phoenix in 1988.

But Rice was an impact player, the kind that could lift a team. In his first 10 seasons -- before injuries curbed his effectiveness --- Rice had 119 sacks. That was more than any NFL player during that span -- including Hall-of-Fame defensive ends Michael Strahan and Jason Taylor.

Heck, more than anyone.

Simeon Rice was so dominant during his career that, in his 2014 Hall-of-Fame induction speech, former Tampa Bay teammate Derrick Brooks called him "one of the best – if not THE best – pass rushers of my generation."

Brooks was probably right.

In four separate seasons, Rice had 14 or more sacks. In the official-sack era (1982-present) only three players - Reggie White (7), Bruce Smith (5) and Kevin Greene (5) -- have more, and they're all in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He has the same number as Strahan, DeMarcus Ware and Jared Allen, too, and all but Allen have a bust in Canton. But Allen has been a Final 15 candidate the last three years and is among the favorites to be elected soon.

Then there's Rice, whose chances seem remote, even though his numbers prove him Hall-of-Fame worthy. The long, lean (6-5, 268 pounds) blind-side rusher gave the best left tackles of his era fits, with Lomas Brown, the long-time Detroit Lions' tackle, comparing him to "a young Richard Dent" and saying that he'd not see many defensive ends with "Rice's speed, power and skills."

"I know I was a Hall-of-Fame player," Rice told the Talk of Fame Network in 2016. "If I could do it all over again and have a career like (I had), I would. I ushered in a whole ‘nother level of defense, with the Jason Taylors and Jevon Kearses and Dwight Freeneys … all those hybrid, fast-speed guys. I was the first one. And then that was the mold. They looked for those guys after that."

Ballots are in the voters' hands. The Hall last week released its preliminary list of 173 modern-era candidates for the Class of 2024, asking selectors to choose their 25 semifinalists by November. Given his resume, Rice should be one of them. But he hasn't been since 2020.

That should change. It’s time Pro Football Hall-of-Fame voters take more notice and at least make Rice a three-time semifinalist and maybe, just maybe, a first-time finalist so that his case can be heard. Then they can decide if Rice is right; that there was "nobody better at my position."