The Tampa Bay Buccaneers once spent the fifth overall pick on LSU's Devin White in the 2019 NFL Draft and, at first, it looked like it was going to be the kind of pick Bucs fans talked about for years to come. It sort of has, but for all of the wrong reasons.
Now, to be clear, White wasn't a dumpster fire by any means. He actually played really well early in his career and was an absolute menance on the field during the 2020 season, notching 140 tackles and nine sacks in that Super Bowl season.
After that incredible season, however, White suddenly crashed out and didn't look like the same player anymore. In 2024, the Bucs finally gave up on White becoming the player they had drafted him to be and he signed with the Texans where he put together another disappointing season, appearing in only seven games.
White is with another new team for the 2025 season, donning the black and silver in Las Vegas. It's only one game but the former fifth overall pick by the Bucs played incredibly well in his first game as a Raider, notching 11 tackles and received heavy praise from Raiders first-year head coach Pete Carroll.
Former Bucs LB Devin White looks like a totally different player with Raiders
This summer, Bucs GM Jason Licht really dropped a hammer of a quote, stating that he wished he had never drafted White in the first place. "It was too much about him," Licht had said. This would have been an easy opportunity for White to have clapped back and talked some smack about his old team but, to his credit, he took the high road.
It's only one game, of course, but it was still frustrating to see White absolutely ball out when he was doing anything but that during his last few years in Tampa. For the most part, Licht has been a wizard when it comes to drafting the players the Bucs need and, in his defense, White was great early on.
Perhaps those comments about wishing he had never drafted White motivated the former LSU Tiger to step it up and play to the level that he's clearly capable of. It's just disappointing that he couldn't do that for more than one full season with the Bucs.