From 2019 to 2023, Devin White played the linebacker position for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before moving on to join the Philadelphia Eagles in 2024. And it was telling that the future Super Bowl champions released White in October without having played a single regular season snap for them despite intiially signing him for $7.5 million.
White then signed on with the Houston Texans and promptly did nothing in seven games, starting just once. The Las Vegas Raiders then scooped him up in the free agent period in 2025, and now he is suddenly putting up huge numbers at the linebacker position.
A former Pro Bowler and second team All Pro inside linebacker for the Buccaneers in the early 2020s, White was once an admittedly productive player for the Bucs and still holds a couple of random rookie records for the franchise. But the Bucs were never quite sad to see him go to the Eagles a few years ago, and although there are some deluded Raiders fans who think he should win Comeback Player of the Year - coming back from your own poor play is not, in fact, a criteria for the award.
Buccaneers fans are not fooled
But Buccaneers fans are not fooled by the gaudy statistics. White has 149 tackles already this season, already beating the career high of 140 he set in 2020 when he was an All Pro player for Tampa Bay and start a string of three straight seasons with at least 120 tackles.
That's the thing about White, though. He is a compiler who racks up tackles - most of them being assisted tackles - and does not actually impact the game profoundly in other aspects. He has a couple of QB hits and passes defended for the Raiders, and he is simply racking up garbage time defensive tackles and clean up plays on an awful team.
Now, there is value in being a sound tackler - and somebody has to make the tackle. But Buccaneers fans saw first hand that these kinds of players are not necessarily adding a whole lot of value beyond that. They look great to the voters and the box score watchers, but White is what he always was - a limited player who can not cover, can not rush the passer, and plays it safe to pad his own stats. Buccaneers fans are not fooled by this, and White is simply looking better these days because he is on the least talented team in the entire NFL.