gold star for USAHOF
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137. Simeon Rice

Simeon Rice's pro career began in 1996, when the Arizona Cardinals drafted him third overall.   Playing at Defensive End, Rice proved his worth instantly with a 12.5 Sack year and won the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award.  Rice played with the Cardinals for five seasons and had three 10-plus-sack years there, peaking with 16.5 in 1998, which was good enough for second overall.

Rice would sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2001, adding to an already potent defensive corps.  He would be part of Tampa’s dominating Super Bowl win in 2002, and he would again finish second in Sacks (15.5) and was named a First Team All-Pro.  The year after, he went to his third Pro Bowl, again was second in Sacks with 15.5, and led the NFL in Forced Fumbles (6).  With the Bucs, Rice had five consecutive 11-plus sack seasons (2001-05). 

He played until 2007 and retired with 122.0 Sacks, which was phenomenal considering how little he faced the pass rush in comparison to his peers.

The Chairman (Kirk Buchner) and Evan Nolan look at the two seperate classes for the PFHOF, Darren Sproles stating that he is a Hall of Famer, Congress looking to elect Curt Flood, and full teams in the HHOF.

Three things come to mind when you think of Claude Lemieux.

The first is that he was the supreme agitator and was considered by many to be a dirty hockey player.

Randy Moller went from winning the gold medal at the World Junior Hockey Championships with Canada to the NHL and the Quebec Nordiques.  The Nords were blessed to have him throughout the '80s, where the towering defenseman used his size to intimidate and check among the best of them.