NFL Network’s Peter Schrager said on Good Morning Football on Monday that his pick for the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2020 is none other than the Bucs’ second-year linebacker, Devin White.

“I’ve been hyping this guy all summer long,” Schrager said. “I have him as my No. 1 breakout player of the year. I said that he could be a Top 10 player in the entire league, and I’m picking him as Defensive Player of the Year.”

NFL Network’s Peter Schrager

Despite playing through tonsillitis in Week 1 before suffering a knee injury in the Bucs’ Week 2 match-up against Carolina that forced him to miss three additional games, White nearly forced himself into the Defensive Rookie of the Year conversation last season.

In 2019, White finished his rookie campaign with 91 total tackles, four tackles for loss, one interception, three forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and two defensive touchdowns. White was the fifth overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

“Everything we’ve seen out of Tampa Bay, the offense is clicking,” Schrager said. “But the quiet monster down there is the defense and this guy is the leader of the whole unit. Yes, Lavonte David has been a star linebacker in this league for quite some time. Devin White is an entirely different deal.”

Schrager continued.

“You add him with Shaq Barrett, with Jason Pierre-Paul, with [Ndamukong] Suh, with Vita Vea, and I think Devin White might be a Luke Keuchly-type player this season. I think he might be a Patrick Willis-type player this season. And I think that if the Tampa Bay Buccaneers go on to win 11 or 12 games like I think they will, and they’re on prime time every single week like I think they will be, I believe that Devin White’s going to be not only a household name, but the leader in the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year when this thing is all said and done.”