The heart and soul of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Lavonte David will miss the regular season. It’s time for a new leader to emerge on the Buccaneers defense.
Sometimes, life isn’t fair. Just as the Bucs seemed to be getting healthy they were hit by another avalanche of injuries. When it rains it pours, and unfortunately the Buccaneers happen to play in Florida.
David has been the undisputed leader of the franchise, even with Tom Brady now in the fold. He finally got the Lombardi Trophy he’s so richly deserved when the Buccaneers won Super Bowl LV, and now in their quest to go for two, they will be without him for the remainder of the regular season.
#Bucs LB Lavonte David will miss the remainder of regular season with a foot injury he sustained in Sunday’s loss to the Saints. The team is hopeful he will be ready for the playoffs. Makes David a likely candidate for Injured Reserve.
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) December 22, 2021
Granted, things could be a lot worse. The foot injury he sustained could knock him out for the entire season including playoffs. However, there is still work to be done for the Buccaneers this regular season. They are still fighting with everything they have to try and secure home-field advantage and the first round bye for the NFC. With David gone, they will need a new leader on the defense to get them through.
Yes, they are veterans galore on this team, but a lot of them are on the offense, including Brady. Luckily, the defense has its fair share of studs that could step up and shoulder this responsibility.
Ndamukong Suh is a natural choice as he is a veteran that’s been around the block that players respect and look up to. Of course they are also young studs such as Vita Vea and Devin White as well. Of course, there’s also the case of Richard Sherman who during his injury was already playing more of a mentor or a “coach“ role which is something that may be David can do as well directions down time.
At the end of the day, the absence of David will be noticeable. However, things could be a lot worse and all things considered, this is far from the worst news that has hit Tampa Bay as of late. All we can hope for now is a speedy recovery for the heart and soul of the franchise.