The Bucs are entering their 50th season since first donning the Bucco Bruce helmet and creamsicle uniforms in 1976. So it’s only fitting that Pewter Report unveils its Top 50 All-Time Bucs list.
The Buccaneers asked yours truly, Scott Reynolds, to provide my Top 50 list to the team for their media poll and I’ve decided to release my rankings to you over the next two weeks in the form of 10 articles – each with five Bucs greats. My list contains 25 Super Bowl champions – either from the 2002 or 2020 teams – as well as nine members of the 2025 team.
Top 50 All-Time Bucs: 11-15
Top 50 All-Time Bucs: 16-20
Top 50 All-Time Bucs: 21-25
Top 50 All-Time Bucs: 26-30
Top 50 All-Time Bucs: 31-35
Top 50 All-Time Bucs: 36-40
Top 50 All-Time Bucs: 41-45
Top 50 All-Time Bucs: 46-50
So let’s continue with the next five players who make up the Top 50 All-Time Bucs and we’ll finish with the top 5 at the end of this series.
All-Time Bucs: 6-10
No. 6 – SS John Lynch
Lynch Mob: How No. 47 Brought Pain, Picks, And Prestige To The Bucs Defense
Before he was a Hall of Famer, John Lynch was the hammer in Tampa Bay’s legendary defense. He was a heady, hard-hitting strong safety who made receivers think twice about crossing the middle.
Lynch joined the Bucs as a third-round pick in 1993, and while it took a few years to crack the lineup full-time, once he did, he became the enforcer of a defense that would go down as one of the NFL’s all-time greats. Playing alongside Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, and Ronde Barber, Lynch was the brainy brawler who patrolled the back end with menace and a knack for making big plays.
Former Bucs safety John Lynch – Photo by: USA Today
In 11 seasons with the Bucs (1993–2003), Lynch totaled 973 tackles, 23 interceptions, and seven forced fumbles. He earned five Pro Bowl nods in Tampa Bay and added four more after moving on to Denver. He was named First-Team All-Pro twice (1999, 2000) and helped anchor the defense that delivered the franchise’s first Super Bowl title in 2002.
But stats don’t fully capture Lynch’s impact. He was a tone-setter, whether launching into a ball carrier or dissecting a play pre-snap. Tony Dungy and Monte Kiffin trusted him to be the field general in a system built on speed and smarts, and Lynch delivered time and time again.
Opposing offenses feared him. Teammates revered him. And in 2021, football finally rewarded him, enshrining Lynch in the Pro Football Hall of Fame where he joined Sapp and Brooks. Lynch played with a focus and a fierceness, and always in the right place in Monte Kiffin’s Tampa 2 defense. He brought an enforcer’s edge to the Bucs secondary that the game of football allowed at the time.
No. 7 – LB Lavonte David
Tampa Bay’s Underrated Tackling Titan
When Lavonte David arrived in Tampa Bay in 2012 as a second‑round pick out of Nebraska, he immediately made his presence felt in leading the team with 139 tackles as a rookie and never looking back. Over 13 seasons and 198 games, David became the heart of the defense, piling up a staggering 1,602 combined tackles (1,111 solo), 39 sacks, 169 tackles for loss, 31 forced fumbles, 19 fumble recoveries, 13 interceptions, and 70 passes defensed.
David has proved to be a model of consistency and excellence for well over a decade as he enters his 14th season in the NFL at age 35. He ranks second in Bucs history in total tackles, leads the franchise in both forced fumbles and fumble recoveries, and is tied for sixth in sacks. In 2024 alone, he posted 122 tackles, 5.5 sacks, one INT, and three forced fumbles over 17 games.
Bucs ILB Lavonte David and Commanders QB Jayden Daniels – Photo by: USA Today
He excelled in big moments with four seasons with 100+ tackles and 15+ tackles for loss, which is the most in the NFL since 2008. In 2013, he became one of just two defenders since 1982 to record seven sacks and five interceptions in a single season. His postseason presence echoed his regular‑season reliability. And after not making the playoffs for the first eight years of his career David helped lead the Bucs to a Super Bowl LV championship over Kansas City in Tampa Bay by erasing All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce that night.
David has had a Hall of Fame career, but due to the Bucs losing for nearly a decade during the first stretch of his time in Tampa Bay he never got the recognition he deserved. David has had just one All‑Pro honor (2013) and one Pro Bowl berth (2015) and he’s been criminally underrated.
Whether he makes it to Canton, Ohio or not, David is a lock to make the Bucs Ring of Honor due to his stellar play, unwavering leadership, durability, insanely high football IQ, and playmaking ability. He defines what it means to be a Buccaneer, and David is the second-best linebacker in Tampa Bay history behind legendary Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks.
No. 8 – OT Tristan Wirfs
The Greatest Offensive Lineman In Bucs History
Tristan Wirfs’ excellence was on display during his rookie season – the only year he has not made the Pro Bowl. Yet in shutting down the likes of Bucs nemesis Cameron Jordan in New Orleans in Week 1 to winning Super Bowl LV at the end of the season, Wirfs played like a Pro Bowler. And he’s only gotten better with time.
Drafted 13th overall out of Iowa in 2020, Wirfs has been everything a team dreams of in an offensive tackle: powerful, consistent, durable, athletic and dominant. Since 2021 when he helped the Bucs win a franchise-best 13 games, Wirfs became a Pro Bowl mainstay and earned first-team All‑Pro honors in 2021 and again in 2024.
Bucs RT Tristan Wirfs and Eagles LB Zach Baun – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
He has also secured his place in NFL history by becoming the only player to every win an All-Pro honor at two positions. Wirfs began his career at right tackle, but he was moved to left tackle in 2023 to replace Donovan Smith. In no time, Wirfs mastered playing left tackle just as he did playing right tackle. He is so dominant that he makes pass blocking look easy.
Despite missing a game and a half due to a minor knee injury, his 2024 season was arguably his best. Wirfs allowed zero sacks while playing more than 1,000 snaps. And he allowed just a single QB hit, and had a ridiculous Pro Football Focus pass-block grade of 93.7, which was the best in the league.
Behind Wirfs, the Bucs offense has thrived, scoring at or near 30 points per game in 2020, 2021 and 2024. Since his arrival, Tampa Bay’s allowed one of the lowest sack rates in the league (fewest per pass attempt at 4.3%) and their offense has ranked top‑five in scoring, total yards, passing, rushing, first downs, and third‑down conversion rate.
The Bucs rewarded Wirfs’ dominance with a record-breaking five‑year, $140M deal in 2024, making him one of the highest-paid offensive linemen in NFL history. Pro Football Focus had him rated the No. 2 offensive tackle heading into 2025 and the 13th-best player in the NFL overall.
Wirfs has only played five seasons in Tampa Bay and is just 26 years old, but he deserves his place in the Top 10 All-Time Bucs players. This ranking isn’t premature. Wirfs is a legend in the making.
He’s made the Pro Bowl in four out of his five years in the league, has won a Super Bowl and four straight NFC South championships and is the best and most decorated offensive lineman in franchise history. Wirfs is currently the best and most talented player on Tampa Bay’s team entering 2025 and he’s on a Hall of Fame trajectory.
No. 9 – FB Mike Alstott
Bucs Rode The A-Train To Super Bowl XXXVII
If you watched the Bucs in the late 1990s and early 2000s, you didn’t just know Mike Alstott. You felt Mike Alstott. The bruising fullback wasn’t just a fan favorite in Tampa Bay, he was a symbol of everything the Bucs wanted to be: tough, relentless, and damn near unstoppable.
Nicknamed “The A-Train,” Alstott was drafted in the second round in 1996 out of Purdue. Alstott was a unicorn. A 6-foot, 240-pound fullback with the agility of a tailback and the hands of a premier wide receiver. While most teams used their fullbacks to block, the Bucs handed Alstott the rock and let him go to work. Alstott wasn’t just a fullback – he was a weapon.
Former Bucs FB Mike Alstott – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
In 11 seasons with the Bucs (1996–2006), Alstott rushed for 5,088 yards and scored 58 rushing touchdowns, while adding another 2,284 receiving yards and 13 TDs through the air. His 71 total touchdowns were the most in franchise history by a mile until the legendary Mike Evans broke Alstott’s record.
But statistics only tell part of The A-Train’s story. Alstott’s punishing runs, truck-stick stiff arms, and dive-for-the-pylon grit became the heartbeat of both Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden’s offenses. He made six Pro Bowls, was named first-team All-Pro three times, and played a pivotal role in the Bucs’ 2002 Super Bowl run.
After back-to-back playoff losses in Philadelphia in 2000 and 2001 in which Tampa Bay’s offense struggled to score, Alstott’s first half touchdown against the Eagles in the 2002 NFC Championship Game proved to be the confidence boost the team needed to win and advance to Super Bowl XXXVII. Then a week later, Alstott scored the first Super Bowl touchdown in Bucs history.
Alstott’s blue collar, tackle-breaking running style got fans out of their seats with regularity at Raymond James Stadium. He even made some of the most dramatic, uncanny short-yardage runs look easy. With A-Train whistles blaring through the stadium, every time Alstott touched the ball, it felt like the stadium held its breath – waiting for another pile-driving highlight.
Alstott retired in 2007 after a neck injury, and he entered the Bucs Ring of Honor shortly thereafter and has had his jersey retired. Tampa Bay hasn’t had a player quite like Mike Alstott ever since. No. 40 was truly one of a kind.
No. 10 – DE Simeon Rice
The “Sackmasta” Was Bucs’ Missing Ingredient On Defense
Simeon Rice was a pass-rushing freak who helped define the Bucs’ golden era defense and still doesn’t get enough credit. Rice arrived in Tampa Bay in 2001 as a free agent from Arizona and immediately transformed an already elite unit into something downright terrifying. Teaming up with future Hall of Famers Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch and Ronde Barber, Rice was the edge presence the Bucs had been missing. He brought juice, swagger, and most importantly – sacks and a pass rush from the outside.
In six seasons with the Bucs (2001–2006), Rice racked up 69.5 sacks, which is third-most in franchise history behind Lee Roy Selmon and Sapp, and 19 forced fumbles. He posted double-digit sacks in each of his first five seasons in pewter and red, including 15.5 in 2002, the year Tampa Bay’s defense carried the team to its first Super Bowl title.
Former Bucs DE Simeon Rice – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
Nicknamed “The Sackmasta,” Rice routinely blew past left tackles with his freakish speed-bend combo, and was a nightmare in obvious passing situations. In Super Bowl XXXVII, Rice notched two sacks of Rich Gannon and played a key role in harassing the NFL MVP into five interceptions in Tampa Bay’s victory.
From 1996 to 2005, only Hall of Famer Michael Strahan had more sacks than Rice. Yet Rice somehow never made an All-Decade team and still isn’t in the Hall of Fame. With 122 career sacks, Rice deserves to be enshrined in Canton, Ohio.
Injuries shortened his career, and his Tampa Bay tenure ended quietly due to a bad shoulder in 2006. But ask anyone who has followed the Buccaneers and they’ll tell you: Rice was the most dominant edge rusher Tampa Bay has ever had not named Selmon.
