It’s been an offseason of reunions for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with the team focusing on bringing back key players that helped them reach the NFC Divisional Round last year.
Players who weren’t particularly helpful found themselves without offers to return. Former All-Pro linebacker Devin White, who continued to take steps backward last season, was among the group of players the Bucs didn’t want back.
It’s unfortunate, as White was a key member of a Super Bowl defense and looked like he was in line to one day take over for Lavonte David. Instead, his play steadily declined, he was called out for lack of effort, and ultimately got benched. His attitude during Tampa Bay’s 1-6 slump reportedly rubbed coaches and players the wrong way and it was made abundantly clear this offseason that he no longer had a place on a roster he, at one time, could have been the leader of.
White signed a $7 million deal with the Philadelphia Eagles during the first wave of free agency, which is a far cry from the $100 million he demanded last offseason. The relationship didn’t go the way anyone would have liked, and White made it clear in his first press conference with the Eagles that there’s no love lost on his end.
Devin White takes some shots at the Bucs during Eagles press conference
During his introductory press conference with Philly, White stopped just short of taking accountability for his poor play and instead took some pot shots at the Bucs and their fans.
“It's an opportunity to show why I was top-five, why I helped a team win the Super Bowl,” White said of signing with the Eagles. “Now you get an opportunity on a bigger stage, it's a bigger platform here, it's a better all-around team built right here, right now to do great things. And I want to be a part of that."
Yikes. Tell us how you really feel.
One of the issues with White and his struggles was the utter lack of accountability, something that ultimately trickled down to Todd Bowles. Despite how subpar White’s play was, his head coach stood by him until he simply couldn’t any longer.
Injuries did play a factor in White underperforming, but he didn’t do himself any favors by not consistently playing at the high level we’ve seen him capable of. He showed flashes of the guy he used to be but followed it up with mind-bogglingly bad decisions and costly errors. At least three different times he god roasted on quarterback scrambles, the most embarrassing being Gardner Minshew putting him on skates. White blew key coverage assignments and seemed to always be near a broken play when it happened.
Part of that was injury, part of that was bad luck, but a guy who demands a trade after not getting $100 million shouldn’t be made to look like a rotational linebacker, which is what White was eventually demoted to.
He helped the Bucs win a Super Bowl, for which fans will forever be grateful. Things should have gone better, and the way White is burning a bridge goes to show that Tampa Bay made the right call.