Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David. Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Pro Football Hall of Fame watch

By Eric Smithling | Last updated 6/7/23

The Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2023 will be inducted on Aug. 5. Here are members of the 2023 Buccaneers who could be inducted into the Hall of Fame someday:

Guaranteed Hall of Famer

Bruce Arians, senior adviser to the general manager: When Arians won the Super Bowl as Tampa Bay's head coach in 2020, it was the culmination of a brilliant NFL career.

In 2012 as an interim coach, he was named Coach of the Year (2012) after taking over for a sick Chuck Pagano four games into the season. After going 9-3 with the Colts, he coached five seasons in Arizona (2013-2017), where he went 49-30-1 with two playoff appearances and another Coach of the Year selection in 2014. He has a career .624 winning percentage, but what he did off the field is just as impressive.

Arians is a major advocate for minority coaches. In 2022, the New York Times noted that when Arians coached the Bucs, he "had the only staff with three minority coordinators" and "was the only one in the NFL to have two women in assistant coaching roles."

Mike Evans, wide receiver: Evans is in elite company as one of three receivers in NFL history with nine 1,000-yard seasons to begin his career, joined by Hall of Famers Jerry Rice (12) and Randy Moss (10). (h/t StatMuse)

He also has four Pro Bowl appearances and was part of the team's 2020 Super Bowl-winning team. He's a strong postseason performer as well. In seven career playoff games, he has 34 receptions for 514 yards and four touchdowns.

Fringe Hall of Famers

Lavonte David, linebacker: David might have a stronger case for the Bucs Ring of Honor than the Hall of Fame, but his credentials are worth consideration. In 11 seasons — all in Tampa Bay — he has 1,346 tackles and nine seasons with at least 100. Per Pro Football Reference's Hall of Fame Monitor, David's Weighted Approximate Value (WAV) of 83 is below the average WAV for Hall of Fame linebackers (105) but is in line with Hall of Famers Willie Lanier (86) and Dick Butkus (82).

Vita Vea, defensive tackle: In five seasons, Vea — a mountain of a man at 6-foot-4 and 345 pounds — has emerged as one of the most dominant interior defensive linemen in football. He earned a Super Bowl ring in 2020 and was named to the Pro Bowl the following season. At 28, Vea is just entering the prime of his career, and if he builds on his great NFL start, Vea will have a serious case to be immortalized in the Hall of Fame.

More must-reads: