Bucs linebacker Devin White might feel like he got snubbed for the 2022 Pro Bowl. But the truth is that he snubbed himself by not making enough impactful plays in 2021.

Instead, White has to settle for being the first alternate this year behind Seattle’s Bobby Wagner, an eight-time Pro Bowler and the NFL’s leading tackler, and Dallas rookie Micah Parsons, who has 12 sacks and will likely win NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.

Even White’s first alternate status in the NFC might be generous, considering that Green Bay’s De’Vondre Campbell (125 tackles, four pass breakups, two interceptions, two sacks, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery) has had a better season and made more splash plays. White has 118 tackles, 3.5 sacks and three pass breakups through 14 games in 2021 by comparison.

Bucs ILB Devin White and Bills QB Josh Allen – Photo by: USA Today

Campbell has a much higher Pro Football Focus grade, too – an 82.9 grade compared to White’s 36.3 grade, which is way too low. White hasn’t been great this year, but he hasn’t been awful, either. Pro Football Focus’ grades can be spotty when it comes to rationale, but the organization does a solid job of statistical compilation.

White got beat out for the Pro Bowl by a better tackler in Wagner, and a splashier linebacker in Parsons. Wagner has a 73.3 PFF grade, while Parsons has an 83.3 grade – both far better than White’s grade.

Wagner leads the league with 158 tackles, including an NFL-high 88 solo tackles. He also has five pass breakups, an interception, a sack and a forced fumble. Parsons has 76 tackles, 12 sacks – which is the sixth-most in the NFL – along with 27 QB hits, three forced fumbles and three pass breakups.

He’s been used primarily as an edge rusher in nickel situations due to his pass-rushing ability. One could make an argument that Parsons should have been classified as an outside linebacker rather than an inside linebacker. But then he could knock Tampa Bay’s Shaq Barrett from the Pro Bowl list if that’s the case.

The Bucs drafted the athletic White with the fifth overall pick in 2019 to become a splashy playmaker. He showed signs of that in his first two seasons, recording a combined 11.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries, two defensive touchdowns, seven pass breakups and one interception.

Throw in two postseason interceptions last season and a pair of key fumble recoveries in the playoffs, and White was living up to his draft billing. Especially after his career-best 140-tackle season in 2020 while helping the Bucs win Super Bowl LV.

White’s end zone interception of Patrick Mahomes to keep Kansas City out of the end zone in the Super Bowl was supposed to kick off his Pro Bowl campaign this season. But it never materialized.

Because the splash plays never materialized.

Bucs ILB Devin White – Photo by: USA Today

Through the first half of the 2021 season, White failed to record a sack, an interception, a forced fumble or a fumble recovery. The Bucs also had three games in prime time to help White show off his playmaking skills before the entire nation in the first half of the year. The best he could muster was a 10-tackle performance in the 2021 season opener on Thursday Night Football against Dallas.

White notched just five stops at New England in Week 4, and five more tackles at Philadelphia in Week 6. Those were hardly eye-catching efforts. Again, no splash plays – defined as sacks or takeaways – in either game.

White had three games with 10 tackles or more in the first eight games of the season. That includes one at New Orleans where he racked up three costly personal fouls on Halloween. To his credit, White has played better since the bye week. He came out with a vengeance in the following game at Washington.

He racked up a career-high 18 tackles in that game, including 13 solo stops, along with his first two sacks of the season. White has had three 10-tackle games over the last six games since the bye week, including the Buffalo game where he also had 1.5 sacks.

Yet, after notching a career-high nine sacks last season, White has racked up just 3.5 sacks this year. And they’ve come less frequently. White’s nine sacks came in five games a year ago. This season he’s only recorded his 3.5 sacks in a pair of games.

White is the league’s 10th-leading tackler, and seven of the players ahead of him are in the NFC. That includes Campbell, which makes White’s case for the Pro Bowl based on tackles even tougher.

Leading the league in tackles is not always a good thing, either. Many of the top tacklers in the NFL rack up so many stops on bad defenses that can’t get off the field. Wagner and teammate Jordyn Brooks, the league’s third-leading tackler with 148 stops, play on a bad Seattle (5-9) defense. The NFL’s second-leading tackler is Atlanta’s Foyesade Oluokun, who has 152 stops for the Falcons (6-8).

Bucs ILB Devin White – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

According to PFF, White has also missed 17 tackles. That includes a few sack opportunities on blitzes. And that’s six more misses than Wagner (11) and seven more than Parsons (10).

Where White needs to improve – aside from being a more sure tackler – is beating blocks. That, and play recognition – an area where teammate Lavonte David is still far superior – would help White rack up even more tackles and miss fewer tackles because he would be in better position to make those stops.

Of course, White needs to make more splash plays going forward. Game-clinching interceptions, scoop-and-scores, pick-sixes – the ones that make the ESPN highlight shows and go viral on social media. Those are the kind of plays that get Pro Bowl votes. White has shown he’s capable of making those types of big plays in the past. He just came up short in that area this year.

And White came up just short of his first Pro Bowl berth as a result.