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.
Buccaneers undrafted rookie defensive lineman Desmond Watson knows he’s getting more attention than other undrafted rookies, and he knows that’s because of his size. He hopes that doesn’t stay the case forever.
Watson weighed 464 pounds at Florida’s Pro Day. He recently said he has dieted down to 437, but even at his slimmer weight he would be the heaviest player in NFL history, and that isn’t what he wants to be known for.
“I feel like my name is etched in history, of course, as the official heaviest player in the NFL, or whatnot,” Watson said, via Buccaneers.com. “It’s a good story; at the same time I don’t want it to be my narrative. I want to be known as a football player, and a good football player at that. But it’s nice to be able to make history. . . . I guess again because I did it in college, too. It’s nice to be able to make history but all in all, I am a football player and I want to be known as a good one. So it’s just a process that comes with it, I guess.”
Watson is no sure thing to make the Bucs’ roster, and probably has a better chance if he can get his weight down under 400 pounds and show improved mobility and quickness. Right now he’s a curiosity because of his size; he hopes to gain respect in the league because of his play.
Another first-round pick has put pen to paper.
The Buccaneers announced on Friday that receiver Emeka Egbuka has signed his contract ahead of the club’s rookie minicamp this weekend.
Egbuka, 22, was the No. 19 overall pick of this year’s draft after spending four seasons at Ohio State. He won the CFP National Championship with the program in January.
The Buccaneers will make a decision on Egbuka’s fifth-year option in the spring of 2028.
Tampa Bay now has five of its six 2025 draftees under contract. The long remaining unsigned player is second-round cornerback Benjamin Morrison.
The Buccaneers announced 15 undrafted rookie additions to their 90-man roster on Friday.
Some of the signings were previously reported. Former Colorado safety Shilo Sanders and former Florida defensive lineman Desmond Watson were notable names for different reasons and former West Virginia quarterback Garrett Greene’s move to wide receiver also garnered notice.
The Bucs also signed former LSU running back Josh Williams, who is the son of former Buccaneer Jermaine Williams. The elder Williams also began his career as an undrafted free agent.
The rest of the group includes Georgia State tackle Ben Chukwuma, Bowling Green quarterback Connor Bazelak, Nebraska linebacker John Bullock, Cal kicker Ryan Coe, Nebraska defensive lineman Nash Hutmacher, Memphis tight end Anthony Landphere, Texas center Jake Majore, Ohio cornerback Roman Parodie, Southeastern Louisiana linebacker Warren Peeples, Marshall safety J.J. Roberts, and Nebraska offensive lineman Ben Scott.
When the crypto-trading platform FTX imploded, various celebrity endorsers found themselves on the wrong end of a civil action. Now, a judge has dismissed most of the claims against a group of big names, including Tom Brady.
Via MacKenzie Sigalos of CNBC.com, a federal judge in Florida has found that the plaintiffs failed to prove that Brady and others had sufficient knowledge that FTX and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried were engaged in misconduct.
Other defendants include Gisele Bündchen, Steph Curry, Shohei Ohtani, Larry David, the Golden State Warriors, Udonis Haslem, David Ortiz, and Naomi Osaka.
The judge explained that, even thought Brady and others may have been “uninformed, negligent, or even reckless,” the plaintiffs failed to show that they had actual knowledge of fraud or intent to deceive or defraud FTX investors.
The judge did not dismiss claims based on Florida and Oklahoma securities laws; both states prohibit the sale of unregistered securities. Also, the plaintiffs were given an opportunity to amend their complaint, which could result in fresh claims that will stick.
Per the report, Shaquille O’Neal reached a settlement the FTX investors last month.
Brady had been a prominent endorser of what ultimately was a house of cards. It was if nothing else a major embarrassment for the six-time Super Bowl winner. The financial fiasco hasn’t really stuck to him the way it could have and arguably should have.
As Brady said in one of his commercials, “FTX is the safest and easiest way to buy crypto.” (It was not.)
Brady and others could still end up being stuck with legal responsibility to partially compensate some of the folks who lost money when they took Brady’s advice and gave FTX their money.
The Buccaneers signed four of their six draft picks ahead of their rookie minicamp.
Third-round cornerback Jacob Parrish, fourth-round outside linebacker David Walker, fifth-round defensive lineman Elijah Roberts and seventh-round wide receiver Tez Johnson now are under contract, the team announced Thursday.
That leaves only first-round wide receiver Emeka Egbuka and second-round cornerback Benjamin Morrison unsigned.
Parrish, the 84th overall selection in the draft, will compete for playing time on the outside or in the slot. The Kansas State product had five interceptions and 21 passes defensed over the past two seasons.
Walker, the 121st overall pick, totaled 31 sacks over three seasons at Central Arkansas, plus another eight in one season at Southern Arkansas. He will compete for playing time in the team’s outside linebacker rotation.
Roberts, the 157th overall pick, made 17.5 sacks the past two seasons at SMU. He will play primarily inside but with the versatility to move outside as needed.
The Bucs made Johnson the 235th overall pick after he made 169 receptions for 2,080 yards and 20 touchdowns the past two seasons at Oregon. He spent his first three seasons at Troy.
Various things can get a player removed from a team’s draft board. In Tampa Bay, there’s one category of prospect that isn’t automatically excluded.
The “d-bags and assholes.”
Via JoeBucsFan.com, Buccaneers G.M. Jason Licht recently explained his willingness to tolerate certain antisocial personality traits during an appearance on The JP Peterson Show.
“We have a long process of defining who we’re taking off [the draft board] and who we’re not,” Licht said. “Now just because a guy, maybe people don’t like him, or he’s a d-bag or an asshole, we’re not just going to automatically take them off. It’s got to affect their football character and it’s got to affect the team. There’s a lot of people that fit that description that are very good football players and maybe it works in their favor.”
Indeed it can. Sometimes, it takes a d-bag and/or an asshole to embrace the physicality of playing football aggressively and effectively.
"[T]here’s a difference between a bad guy and an immature person, and we’ll take immature and help them develop,” Licht said. “But, you know, we just don’t want people that are going to affect the locker room in a negative way that affects the performance of others and the team.”
As often happens, objectively undesirable qualities can take a back seat to undeniable talent.
“We’ll take a guy that’s a little bit of a d-bag or an asshole if they can get to the quarterback, for sure,” Licht said.
He didn’t name names, unfortunately. But that makes sense. A d-bag and/or an asshole wouldn’t take kindly to being publicly labeled a d-bag and/or an asshole.
