Buccaneers: Was Mike Garafolo actually wrong about Lavonte David?

Can the Buccaneers pay Lavonte David?

After a brief look at overthecap.com, anyone can see that the Buccaneers do not have unlimited resources, and the idea that the Bucs will cut a player like Donovan Smith after his most recent games is more ludicrous than the idea of letting David walk.

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Devin White can Tweet about David all day; that doesn’t free up 10 million dollars. Bruce Arians and Jason Licht can speak the world of David every day until the end of time. That doesn’t make the situation any less dire.

Fans can read between the lines all they want, but David returning is not a sure thing, and we have to ask ourselves, “if we bring him back, what are we giving up?”

Bringing back David, one of the best players in franchise history, but letting Shaquil Barrett walk, would be up there with the worst decisions possible. All the loyalty in the world doesn’t add value to a position.

The Bucs can replace a Godwin or a David in the draft far easier than Barrett, and it isn’t even close.

None of this is to say the Bucs should move on from David; they absolutely should try to keep him. But it is important to remember that the situation is not as breezy as it is being made. Tampa Bay has an excellent front office that should remedy the cap situation, but even they may struggle to make all of this work.

Hopefully, we will see Lavonte David back leading the team next year, but if we don’t, the Bucs should still be in a similar position to make a repeat run at the Super Bowl if they draft well.

As for Mike Garafolo, while his take could prove wrong down the road, his reasoning is perfectly sound, and it is far too soon to label this take as incorrect or outlandish at this point.

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