Buccaneers still need to see more from key leader in 2022
By Rob Leeds
The good for Devin White and the Buccaneers
The good should stand out immediately. Even the most cynical fan can tell you what White brings to the table.
Where do you start? One of the most athletic linebackers in the NFL? Super Bowl Champion? Defensive leader on a unit that held Patrick Mahomes to zero touchdowns in the biggest game of his young career? An All-Pro-caliber season statistically in 2020?
The point is, there is a mountain of good with White. In fact, the good blows the bad out of the water more often than not.
White has so much athletic talent that sometimes he actually gets into the backfield too fast. This is not the type of player that you separate from one of the smartest defensive minds in the NFL, and 2020 showed us why.
White was dominant as a pass-rusher and as a run stuffer in 2020. He accomplished everything that was needed of him and more. Nine sacks, 15 tackles for loss, and 16 quarterbacks hits in a season showed that White lived in the backfield. This number of sacks from a guy that was also dropping into coverage was extremely impressive.
While White did struggle against the pass, which we will discuss later, he more than made up for it by being a disruptive force that made it hard for any offense to game plan against.
There is a very talented leader and player inside of Devin White, and finding the way to put it all together at the same time while also making him competent in coverage is an easy recipe to creating a perennial All-Pro and a guy worthy of being a face of a franchise.