TAMPA, Fla. -- A month after being inducted into pro football's Hall of Fame, Derrick Brooks will become the newest member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Ring of Honor.
The team formally announced Tuesday that the nine-time All-Pro linebacker who led the Bucs to their only Super Bowl title 11 seasons ago will also have his No. 55 jersey retired during a ceremony at halftime of a home game against the St. Louis Rams on Sept. 14.
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Brooks was the 28th player selected in the 1995 NFL draft and teamed with Tampa Bay's other first-round pick that year -- Hall of Famer and NFL Media analyst Warren Sapp -- to form the foundation of a dominant defense that helped transform a struggling franchise once jokingly called the "Yucs" into a perennial playoff contender.
"If Warren was the heart of our defense, then today's inductee, Derrick Brooks, was the soul that propelled us to our world championship in 2002," Bucs co-chairman Bryan Glazer said.
Brooks, who'll enter the pro football Hall of Fame in August, joins Lee Roy Selmon, John McKay, Jimmie Giles, Paul Gruber and Sapp in having his name displayed in the Ring of Honor, which was created in 2009 at Raymond James Stadium.
Selmon, elected to the Hall of Fame in 1995, and Sapp, enshrined in Canton a year ago, are the only other players to have their jerseys retired by the Buccaneers.
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