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FAB 1. White Taking Over Bucs Defense

Want to know what made Derrick Brooks the best linebacker in Tampa Bay history?

Playing next to veteran Hardy Nickerson, a Pro Bowl linebacker.

Brooks and Nickerson were in a weekly race – a friendly competition – to lead the Bucs in tackles during their playing time together from 1995-1999 with Brooks having that distinction in three out of those five years.

Bucs inside linebacker Devin White has put veteran Lavonte David on notice that he plans to lead the team in tackles this year after David led the way last year with 123 tackles to White’s 91 stops during his rookie season. White, who was the fifth overall pick in 2019, missed three and half games last year with a knee injury while David suited up for all 16.

“I look at myself as the best inside linebacker in the game, and I got to go out there to prove myself,” said White, after he and David tied for 11 tackles in Tampa Bay’s 34-23 loss at New Orleans on Sunday. “Me and Lavonte, we compete very hard. Let’s see who’s going to be the best. Let’s see who’s going to have the best game. If I’m competing against a guy like that there’s only good things that can come from it because I know he’s going to be on his game because he’s been on it for the past eight years. I’ve just got to pass his level and make him come catch me, so there’s a fight in the locker room for who can be the best and who’s going to have the best game.”

That type of competitiveness in the locker room between the young Brooks and the veteran Nickerson – along with a pass rush spearheaded by defensive tackle Warren Sapp – helped transform the Bucs defense into one of the best in the league in the late 1990s and early 2000s. And it’s that type of competitiveness that White and David have that will attempt to do the same in Tampa Bay in the 2020s.

“It’s a mentality you’ve got to have,” White said. “You can’t wait for somebody to praise you. You’ve got to go out there and take it. You’ve got to make them praise you – that’s what we’re doing. We want people to talk about us.

“When you talk about how Tom [Brady] didn’t have a great game – talk about how good the defense did, and what more they can do as they continue to get better. It’s just our mindset. We know we’ve got a flashy guys over there, but we’re going to have a lot of flashy guys when it comes to the end of the season on the defensive side of the ball [too].”

White is on a mission to not just take over the Bucs’ lead in tackles from David. He wants to take over – period.

And he’s well on his way.

Brooks eventually took the reins of the Tampa Bay defense from Nickerson in 1999, and White will do the same from the 30-year old David soon enough. White has natural born leadership qualities, but was voted as a team captain by his peers this year in just his second season in the NFL.

Bucs LBs Devin White and Lavonte David – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“I mean ever since I got drafted I just talk,” White said. “I’m friends with everybody on the team from the undrafted free agent to the seventh-round pick, all the way up to the superstars on the team that’s making the most money. I just feel like we’re all one. We all have got to come and go. We all come here, we strap up and we do the same thing – we work hard. Just to be voted team captain by my teammates, that’s a blessing because it wasn’t just a pick thing. People have to actually see it in you and be able to count on you.

“It feels amazing because I really respect every guy in the locker room and coaching staff in the building because without them there’s no me – and that’s vice versa. I’m just thankful. That’s been one of my biggest accomplishments so far since I’ve been in the NFL. I think just being able to be a team captain, and I wear that ‘C’ on my chest with pride, everybody doesn’t get to wear but everybody’s not a leader. You got some great players that are leaders and you got some of the not so great players that are leaders, so it can come from anywhere. But I’m glad it came from me because I’m the quarterback of the defense and I feel like I make the team go, it just shows.”

The Bucs received some criticism last year after selecting White, an off-the-ball linebacker, with the fifth overall pick. But Tampa Bay drafted him for two reasons: to make plays and to use his 4.4 speed to help shut down some divisional multi-purpose weapons, such as New Orleans Pro Bowl running back Alvin Kamara and Carolina’s Pro Bowl running back Christian McCaffrey.

Once he returned to health, White was a force on defense during his rookie season with four fumble recoveries, including two for touchdowns, three forced fumbles, 2.5 sacks and one interception.

As for Kamara and McCaffrey, he fared well in both match-ups last year and is off to a very good start in 2020, helping to hold Kamara to just 16 yards and one touchdown on 12 carries (1.3 avg.) and 51 yards and one score on five receptions.

“It doesn’t really give us confidence that we stopped him,” White said. “We knew going into the game that we were going to be able to stop him. I mean I feel like he does a lot of great things, but at the end of the day I feel like my defense, especially the front seven, I feel like they’re going to really get after it in the run game. They really pride themselves on getting knocked back and telling me all the time, ‘You better come down here – you better come down here and make plays, especially when we’re taking on these double teams for you.’ It’s more of a Bucs D thing that I take more pride in than what he did.”

Bucs LB Devin White – Photo by: Getty Images

Next up is McCaffrey, who was held to just 110 yards and two touchdowns on 44 touches in both games against Tampa Bay a year ago. Like Kamara, McCaffrey is just as much of a threat as a receiver out of the backfield as he is a runner.

“I think those guys are very versatile, but I think 22 (McCaffrey) is more of a downhill runner than 41 (Kamara),” White said. “[Kamara] likes to get out in space, he likes to hit the edges. [McCaffrey] likes to stick his nose in and try to get the tough yards. They’re both great in the passing game and they get force fed by their offensive coordinators because they’re great players. It’s just our job to stop them, if coach calls my name to be man-on-man, I know I’m going to get the job done.”

White accepts the challenge and loves going one-on-one in man coverage against some of the league’s most dynamic Pro Bowl running backs.

“Most definitely, anytime he goes wide, I’ve got to go do it, and I want to do it, and I will do it,” White said. “Everybody knows that’s one of the reasons why I was drafted – to go man up on those guys. I was watching film and I think the Raiders were putting a safety on him. When you play us it’s not needed. It’s like when Alvin Kamara went empty, I went out and covered him and he had no catches.

“I’m just going week in and week out I’m going to get better, and we got fast guys on the scout team right now giving me a great look and I’m just playing my technique and just playing ball and making plays. That’s what I’m going to do when the game comes Sunday. I’m going to go make plays. Anytime you lineup in empty, if we’re in man-to-man, I’ll be out there guarding. And I take pride in guarding, too.”

The next – and final – step in White’s development into a Pro Bowl-caliber middle linebacker will be not just to win the one-on-ones with talented, multi-purpose running backs. It will be to win one-on-one chess games with some of the league’s opposing quarterbacks.

Bucs LB Devin White – Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

It will be making a check and forcing a quarterback to audible. Then after the QB’s audible, making the appropriate countermove with another call to make sure the defense is best positioned to win the down.

“He’s getting there,” said Bucs reserve inside linebacker Kevin Minter, who has been a mentor to White. “He’s about there. That only comes with experience – playing the chess game. But don’t get me wrong. The kid is close. We’ve got a lot of games and we’ll see how fast he develops in that area. But don’t be surprised when Devin is one of the best in the league.”

Head coach Bruce Arians said that White knows Todd Bowles’ scheme after a solid rookie year and is beginning to take control of the Bucs defense.

“He’s running the show,” Arians said. “He’s got Lavonte next to him, so it’s easy to look over and say, ‘What do you think?’ They work really, really well together on getting the checks and everything that we want to do and getting us in the right fronts and making sure the back end is connected. He’s well on his way of taking over.”

Minter, who played at LSU, has watched White play for his alma mater from afar over the last couple of seasons as an interested observer, and has seen the second-year linebacker make huge strides in his leadership. It came as no surprise that White was named a team captain this year.

“He speaks up more and he’s a lot more vocal, but he’s also talking with his pads,” Minter said. “He brings it every day and he expects it from everybody else. There is no more holding this kids’ hand. He’s full tilt. He’s a pro now, and he’s starting to act like it. He’s a good kid to follow. I can’t help but be proud of the type of player he’s becoming. His ceiling is super high. He played such a great game and I can’t wait to see what kind of season he has. He’s all in.”

Bucs LB Devin White – Photo courtesy of Tampa Bay Buccaneers

After a sensational debut in New Orleans with 11 tackles, a tackle for loss and a pass breakup, White is ready to ascend into NFL stardom in 2020 – and plans on taking the Buccaneers defense with him.

His Buccaneers defense.

“I’ve just been ready to let my light shine and let the world see that I’m a great football player,” White said. “At the end of the day, that game’s over with. I’ve got to go out there and be 10 times better than the last game.”

McCaffrey has been officially put on notice.