John Lynch will be inducted into the Buccaneers Ring of Honor during halftime tomorrow night. Lynch will be the 9th Bucs player to be inducted into Tampa’s prestigious Ring of Honor. He is ranked 5th All-time for tackles in franchise history and is one of the most recognizable and popular players to ever play in Tampa Bay.
He was drafted by the Buccaneers in the 3rd round of the 1993 NFL Draft and heads the list of amazing players to have once played under Sam Wyche. Lynch started his career in Tampa as a defensive back and although he had not made a big impact just, yet, he was quietly brewing into what would become one of the most impactful safeties the League had ever seen.
In his third year, his position was changed to that of strong safety, and that was when his legacy was born. For the next eight seasons, Lynch would physically carve out a name that would spark fear into opposing wide receivers and running backs, as one of the hardest hitting players they have ever come across. Lynch helped turn around what had become a losing culture in Tampa, and a major contribution to why the Tampa 2 became such a huge success. John Lynch earned nine Pro Bowl trips and earned three-time First-Team All-Pro. He also capitalized on his early success in the NFL, by being a part of one of the top defenses to ever win a Super Bowl Bowl in 2003.
In the 11 years Lynch played with Tampa, he started 132 times out of the 162 games he played, had 23 interceptions, 746 tackles, 541 of which were solo. Lynch’s name goes down in the history books as one of the most feared, hardest hitting players in NFL history. Even after multiple neck and back injuries that involved major surgeries to correct, and even long after Lynch was released from Tampa, he continued his hard hitting, fear spreading ways, as a Denver Bronco. Denver also inducted Lynch into their Ring of Honor, and he is surely worthy of both, along with a future resting spot in Canton. Thank you, Lynch, for being one of the greatest Buccaneers players of our 40-year history.
