Ex-NFL DE Simeon Rice: 'There's no Hall of Fame without me in it'

Former NFL defensive end Simeon Rice says that he deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame,

Former NFL defensive end Simeon Rice says that he deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, telling SB Nation “there's no Hall of Fame without me in it.”

Rice, a three-time Pro Bowler, racked up 122 sacks in his 12-year NFL career with four teams, but he is best known for helping the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win Super Bowl XXXVII. He recorded 10 or more sacks in a season eight times.

"There's no Hall of Fame without me in it," Rice says. "There's just not. I dominated when I played. There was nobody better at my position. Nobody."

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[daily_cut.nfl]Rice says he doesn’t understand how he is not enshrined, while other players are in.

“I didn’t have nobody falling down to help me get sacks,” Rice said. “I didn’t have that. I had to earn everything I got.”

Rice is referring to Hall of Famer Michael Strahan, who set the NFL’s single-season sack record of 22.5 in 2001. Strahan earned the record-breaking sack when Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre fell down and let Strahan sack him. 

- Scooby Axson