After a few months of people wondering if he was eying a return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Gerald McCoy has finally announced his retirement from the NFL in a move that shouldn't surprise many.

The former first-round pick has struggled with injuries over the past few years, and one of the hardest decisions in the sport is choosing to leave the game on your own terms rather than being forced to retire.

McCoy finally made that decision, and he leaves the game as one of the best players in Buccaneers' franchise history.

Somehow, many fans have forgotten just how great McCoy was for the Bucs, and while he did go play for a division rival, there is a very easy argument that exists in favor of McCoy being one of the next additions to Tampa's Ring of Honor.

The first argument is that Ring of Honor selections have nothing to do with team success.

Many fans that argue against McCoy earning this honor cite the lack of playoff appearances during his tenure, but the Ring of Honor is based on individual success just as much as it is based on team success.

Lee Roy Selmon, Jimmie Giles, and Paul Gruber spent most of their careers on terrible Bucs teams that didn't make the playoffs too, and making the playoffs just to lose in the first round isn't much of a better accomplishment either.

A lack of team success doesn't work against them, so it shouldn't be held against McCoy either. 

If individual success is the true determinant of this honor, McCoy has an obvious case on all accounts.

Tenure is obviously important. Nine years is a perfect amount of time to put in with the team to get this acknowledgment, especially when people like Bruce Arians and Tom Brady will get the same treatment with a fraction of the time.

As far as stats are concerned, McCoy's numbers make a compelling argument from Pro Bowls to sacks.

McCoy's 54.5 sacks with Tampa are good for third all-time in franchise history amongst players who were on the team during a time where sacks were an official stat, and it is also fair to say McCoy did this on a worse team than Simeon Rice and Warren Sapp (the two players above him on this list).

McCoy had no offense, no coaching, and very few other players on defense to take some of the pressure, yet he was still able to establish himself as one of the best defensive players in the league with six Pro Bowl selections (tied for third in franchise history with Selmon, more than Gruber and Giles), one first-team All-Pro, and two second-team All-Pro selections.

The numbers show that McCoy holds up against or beats other Ring of Honor members from a time, production, and awards standpoint. How is it really a question?

League-leading play from a defensive captain that spent almost a decade with the team marks every box on the sheet for what a Ring of Honor candidate needs to be.

And no, no one on the planet should care that a guy making millions of dollars to play a kid's game smiled after some losses while playing at one of the highest levels in the league.

If you really want to make a compelling argument against McCoy, you may want to start somewhere with actual evidence.

The Buccaneers need to make the right and very obvious decision here. Gerald McCoy has done everything to be a lock for the Ring of Honor.