FAB 4. Bucs LB White Lived Up To Draft Status

Head coaches are deemed successful by the amount of wins and losses the team produces under their watch. For general managers, it’s often the success of their draft classes – specifically their first-round picks.

Like all general managers, Tampa Bay’s Jason Licht has had his share of hits and misses since he took over in that role in 2014. Three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Mike Evans was drafted that year and is his biggest success, as Evans is regarded as a Top 5 receiver in the NFL.

Bucs head coach Bruce Arians, LB Devin White and GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The jury is still debating the selections of quarterback Jameis Winston (2015), who would be a tremendous hit due to the yards and touchdowns he throws for if he could reduce his high amount of interceptions, as well as tight end O.J. Howard (2017), who underwhelmed in his first year in Bruce Arians’ offense. Tampa Bay nose tackle Vita Vea (2018) is a very good, up-and-coming nose tackle that can stuff the run and disrupt the pocket.

Cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III, who was the Bucs’ first-round pick in 2016, was released at midseason, and is Licht’s biggest obvious miss. But in the same year Hargreaves was fizzling, Licht’s latest first-rounder, inside linebacker Devin White, was sizzling.

Licht drew some criticism for selecting White with the fifth overall pick and passing on pass-rushing outside linebacker Josh Allen, who currently has 10 sacks and two forced fumbles for Jacksonville. Drafting inside linebackers inside the Top 10 is often frowned upon in the league, but the Bucs needed an immediate replacement for Kwon Alexander, who left Tampa Bay for a richer payday in San Francisco.

And Licht also believed in the pass-rushing potential of newly signed outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett, in addition to the returning tandem of Jason Pierre-Paul and Carl Nassib, who teamed up for 19 sacks in 2018. So Licht pulled the trigger on White, the 2018 Butkus Award winner out of LSU.

White spent the preseason learning the defense and adjusting to the speed of the game, making some tackles, but no real splash plays in August. In fact, the big plays and takeaways wouldn’t come until after he missed two and a half games with a knee sprain he suffered in a Week 2 win at Carolina.

Bucs LB Devin White – Photo by: Mary Holt/PR

White would lead the Bucs with nine tackles against Carolina in London in his first game back, and then force a key fumble on a fourth down fake field goal attempt at Tennessee that led to an apparent Tampa Bay touchdown – only to have the officials say that an inadvertent whistle had blown the play dead, negating Whites’s forced fumble.

The LSU product had his first double-digit sack game with 12 stops, forced two fumbles and half a sack the next week in a 40-34 overtime loss at Seattle, and then established a new career-best with 13 tackles in a 34-17 loss to New Orleans.

White would notch his first two full sacks the next week in Atlanta, along with eight tackles in a 35-22 upset win over the Falcons. And he was just getting warmed up.

The big plays continued the next week in a 28-11 win at Jacksonville where White recorded seven tackles, grabbed his first career interception and had a 14-yard scoop-and-score touchdown on a fumble recovery. That tremendous month of November led to White being named the NFC Defensive Rookie of the Month.

White would go on to record another forced fumble in a 38-35 comeback win against Indianapolis, and recover another fumble in last week’s 23-20 defeat at the hands of Houston. There is still one game left to play in White’s rookie season, but he’s already been everything the Bucs had hoped the fiery, fast linebacker would be.

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

“He’s the exact guy we thought we drafted,” Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles said. “Once the injuries got past and he got caught back up with the system and he’s playing faster, he’s exactly what we saw in college and we’re happy to have him.”

White has played in 12 regular season games with one game left, and he played in 13 games in each of his last two seasons at LSU. While White has made fewer tackles in the NFL, which has become more of a passing league than the run-heavy SEC, the splash plays are roughly on par with what the produced during his sophomore and junior seasons for the Tigers.

White’s 2019 Bucs Rookie Year
86 tackles (54 solo)
2.5 sacks
3 FF
3 FR
1 INT
3 PBUs
1 Defensive TD

White’s 2018 LSU Junior Year
123 tackles (62 solo)
3 sacks
3 FF
2 FR
0 INTs
6 PBUs

White’s 2017 LSU Sophomore Year
133 tackles (37 solo)
4.5 sacks
0 FF
0 FR
1 INT
3 PBUs

Bowles knows that White is just scratching the surface when it comes to the production he’ll have with more experience in his second year in the NFL in 2020.

“You’re not a rookie when you’re playing the whole year, but mentally he has some things to learn,” Bowles said. “But he plays fast and he gets better every day. As long as the mental aspect of the game comes for him – which is coming very fast – his ceiling, if he stays healthy, [is one where] he controls his own destiny. He is a very good player. He has a chance to be a great player if he stays healthy and everything goes well.”

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

Head coach Bruce Arians has been thrilled with White’s play this season, and the developing leadership aspect he brings to the team.

“With his injury, it really hurt him [and] set him back probably six weeks before he could do that,” Arians said. “He still was with them, talking to the rookies, but when you’re not playing at that level, you can’t talk that level. Now, he can back it up and he’s bringing it not only to the rookies now – it’s everybody.”