Buccaneers: 3 players who need this Super Bowl win
By Rob Leeds
These Buccaneers need this Super Bowl win.
To be fair, every player on the Buccaneers needs this Super Bowl win. The whole team deserves this opportunity to escape from mediocrity and gain the recognition they deserve, but a handful of players need this chance more than the rest.
Player #1
No one on the Buccaneers needs this win more than Lavonte David. David has put together a near Hall of Fame career with a horrible team in Tampa, and a Super Bowl changes his legacy entirely.
At this point in his career, David is playing better than Bobby Wagner and is a top off-ball linebacker in the NFL. Wagner is the best reference, as most NFL personalities already have him penciled in as a first-ballot Hall of Fame candidate, yet David has been better and for longer.
In the grand scheme of things, David has the longevity and stats to compete with most of the great off-ball backers throughout history, and the one knock against him has been the team he plays for.
As one of the franchises with the smallest market, the Bucs have a way of keeping their players buried under the weight of terrible decisions and horrible play. Those days appear to be over, and now most of the NFL is starting to change their tune on David.
If this season is the Buccaneers’ best chance to win a Super Bowl during David’s career, this is also his best chance to build some much-needed Hall of Fame momentum. A win here doesn’t solidify anything, but a win and four or five more seasons of the current success should have David firmly amongst the greatest NFL players of all time.