A major theme of the offseason for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was reunion.
Jason Licht spent most of free agency spending most of the team's money on bringing back key players who helped the Bucs achieve unexpected success last season. Baker Mayfield and Mike Evans were re-signed, Anotine Winfield Jr. and Tristan Wirfs were given historic contracts, and Jordan Whitehead found his way back to Tampa Bay after a few years with the Jets.
One player who wasn't among that group was linebacker Devin White. He did not return after his contract expired in March, and all indications were that the team didn't want him back.
White kicked up dust last offseason when he demanded a trade after not getting a $100 million contract from the Bucs. He eventually apologized, although the damage seemed to be done. Rather than ball out and earn his keep, White turned in an injury-riddled season of mediocrity that involved him losing his starting job to K.J. Britt.
All of that led him to sign with the Philadelphia Eagles while endlessly taking shots at his old team. It seems that might have been shortsighted, as White's time with the Eagles isn't going particularly well.
The Eagles are headed to Brazil for one of the NFL's more bizarre games on the schedule, but White will not be joining them. He'll be back in Philly missing the game with what the team is calling an ankle injury.
It's a bad break in more than one way.
White is already getting pushed down the depth chart by Zack Braun and Nakobe Dean, which means missing action on Friday will only further hurt his cause. Not only is he in danger of losing playing time, but MMQB's Albert Breer noted that there were rumblings that the Eagles were thinking about trading White before setting their final roster.
There were murmurs that the Eagles could trade Devin White before the cutdown—Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean both were really good in camp. So, fair or not, White missing the opener won’t help his case for a big role in the defense. https://t.co/6Sm5wIIETw
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) September 4, 2024
New place, same old problems.
To be clear, nobody should be rooting against White. He was an important piece of a defense in Tampa Bay that won a Super Bowl just a few years ago. The fact that he never capitalized on his potential with the Bucs is one of the biggest bummers about everything that happened after winning a title, and the way his time with the team flamed out just flat out stinks.
His situation in Philadelphia is starting to look identical to the one he had in Tampa Bay, which indicates that it wasn't the team's problem that things weren't going well. White is in danger of getting pushed down the roster, is missing time with injuries, and it's not even Week 1 yet.
It's a long season and perhaps he'll get things turned around, but all of the trash he talked about the Bucs is already aging poorly.
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