The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced its initial list of candidates for the Class of 2026 on Wednesday and 10 of them have ties to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Simeon Rice, one of the most feared pass rushers in the NFL in the 1990s and 2000s, is among the 128 nominees, as is the Thunder & Lightning duo of Mike Alstott and Warrick Dunn.
Other players on the list of candidates who played portions of their careers in Tampa include quarterback Jeff Garcia, running backs Thomas Jones and LeSean McCoy, fullback Lorenzo Neal, tackle Lomas Brown, guard Logan Mankins and punter Sean Landeta.
Rice joined the Buccaneers as a free agent in 2001 after five seasons in Arizona and proved to be the final piece in what would become one of the best defenses in NFL history. Over the next five seasons, he led the NFL with 67.5 sacks, adding to his career total of 122.0. He earned two Pro Bowl invitations as a Buccaneer and was a first-team All-Pro in 2002 on the team that went on to capture the Super Bowl XXXVII championship. Rice racked up 4.0 sacks during the Bucs' playoff run, including 2.0 in the Super Bowl win over the Oakland Raiders.
The Bucs selected Dunn with the 12th overall pick in the 1997 draft and he went on to capture the Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year trophy. Dunn played six seasons in Tampa (1997-2001, 2008), with six years in between with the Atlanta Falcons, and he is the only player in NFL history to record 7,500 yards from scrimmage with two different franchises. For the Buccaneers, he amassed 4,986 rushing yards and 2,704 rushing yards, scored 28 total touchdowns and went to two Pro Bowls.
Alstott was a second-round draft pick in 1996 and he teamed with Dunn for six seasons to form one of the most productive backfields in the NFL. "The A-Train" not only served as a lead-blocker for Dunn and other backs but also put up big numbers as a ballcarrier and pass-catcher. Alstott's 5,088 rushing yards rank second in franchise history and his 305 receptions rank sixth. He is also the Bucs' all-time leader in rushing touchdowns, with 58, and ranks second to Mike Evans in total touchdowns with 71. Alstott was selected for six Pro Bowls, matching Evans' total as the most by an offensive player in franchise annals. Alstott played 11 seasons for the Buccaneers and scored four touchdowns during the team's 2002 postseason run to its first Super Bowl championship.
Alstott is a member of the Buccaneers' Ring of Honor and Rice will join him in that elite club when he is inducted in a halftime ceremony during the November 30 game against the Cardinals.
Brown was also a member of that 2002 Super Bowl team in the last of his 18 seasons in the NFL. Garcia was the Buccaneers' starting quarterback for most of the 2007 and 2008 seasons, earning a Pro Bowl berth in 2007. The Bucs acquired Jones, a former first round pick by Arizona, in a trade in 2003 and he resurrected his career after a slow three-year start with the Cardinals. He went on to play 12 seasons in the league and produce 12,614 yards from scrimmage.
Landeta was the Buccaneers' punter in 1997, when the team produced its first playoff season in 15 years. Tampa Bay traded for Mankins, a long-time Patriot standout, in August of 2014 and he started for two seasons in Tampa, earning his seventh Pro Bowl appearance in 2014. Neal, one of the best blocking fullbacks of his era, was a Buccaneer in 1998 and was instrumental in the team recording 2,148 rushing yards, the third most in a single season in franchise history. McCoy played 12 games for the Buccaneers, postseason included, during their 2020 Super Bowl seasons, representing his final action in the NFL at the end of a 12-year career.
The initial list of 128 nominees will be reduced to 50 by a screening committee, and the shorter list will be announced in October. That group will then be cut down to 25 semi-finalists later in the season. In January, Hall of Fame voters will produce a list of 15 finalists from that group and then vote on up to five becoming the modern-era portion of the Class of 2026. The new Hall of Famers will be revealed during the annual NFL Honors show on the eve of the Super Bowl.
