The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have decided not to add to the Ring of Honor this year, and that is something the Bucs faithful can get behind since most NFL honor rolls are becoming too bloated with people too eager to add instead of keeping some things sacred.
But the Bucs Ring of Honor announcement - or non announcement, rather - has still opened up the conversation over who should be next. Many fans have wondered when former Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy will make it to the Ring of Honor with one fan sending a tweet to him on X that he deserves to be in.
Because I me getting in is a stretch and Hardy Nickerson should be in. Oh and then there’s a HOF LB that just retired that will get in before me. Brady possibly. I appreciate the sentiment though
— Gerald McCoy (@Geraldini93) July 28, 2026
McCoy, though, unselfishly sees it otherwise. The former Buccaneers star said, "Because I me getting in is a stretch and Hardy Nickerson should be in. Oh and then there’s a HOF LB that just retired that will get in before me. Brady possibly. I appreciate the sentiment though."
Gerald McCoy is too humble about his status as a Buccaneers legend
While the sentiment from McCoy is beautiful and Lavonte David and Hardy Nickerson were indeed tremendous inside linebackers, McCoy is even more deserving than those guys are of the Ring of Honor, especially Nickerson.
Yes, Nickerson was a great player and a tempo setter for the Buccaneers defense, but he often played, as Warren Sapp once called him out, pretty selfishly, caring more about his own tackles than actually playing disciplined defense for the team, allowing a lot of big plays just so he could get the credit for tackles from other players. And unlike David, he was pretty limited in the other phases of the game, never really standing out in the pass rush or as a coverage linebacker.
Meanwhile, Gerald McCoy was as good as any defensive tackle in the NFL during his peak from 2012 to 2017 in which he made the Pro Bowl in every single season despite playing in a small market and having to deal with defensive linemen like Kyle Williams, Justin Smith, Geno Atkins, JJ Watt, Ndamukong Suh, Vince Wilfork, and so many other elite players for Pro Bowl spots during arguable the peak years of NFL history.
McCoy was a solid run defender and an elite interior pass rusher who had three straight seasons with at least 8.5 sacks despite having very little help around him on the defensive line. He is selling himself short to the fans: McCoy is even more deserving of a Ring of Honor spot than Hardy Nickerson.
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