Tough question Buccaneers have to ask about face of the defense
By Rob Leeds
No one really wants to start thinking about how much longer Lavonte David is going to be on the Buccaneers, but we do have to start wondering.
No matter how much attention some of these younger guys start to get, no one is more important to this Buccaneers defense than Lavonte David.
David is a dominant, future Ring of Honor member, fringe Hall of Famer, and is also just one of the best players on the team.
Despite being buried on a bad team on a bad defense for the better part of a decade, David has made a name for himself as one of the best linebackers of his era, and Tampa has benefitted from him greatly in their years of relevance.
But how much longer can David keep this up for?
This is a tough question that the Buccaneers need to start asking themselves after this upcoming year.
As of now, the only focus is on winning and making the most of Tom Brady’s last year in Tampa. However, there are some questions after that for the Bucs at the off-ball linebacker position.
Devin White has been hot and cold, and while the Buccaneers had no choice but to pick up his fifth-year option, will they be willing to make him the highest-paid linebacker in the NFL for the future?
That remains to be seen.
David is the much more consistent and better player, but he is getting up there with age. At 32 this year, David is coming off a quiet year by his standards and needs to avoid the injuries that slowed him down in 2021.
Even if David does bounce back in 2022, there has to be thoughts from this watching him play that this could be one of the last seasons of #54 in Tampa.
While no one wants to think about the legend retiring or leaving the Buccaneers just yet, each year is bringing us one step closer to this difficult day, and we all hope that Lavonte David just gets the chance to make his mark in however many more years he has left on this team.
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