Earlier this week it was reported by ESPN’s Jenna Laine and many others that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers star linebacker Devin White has requested a trade. White is entering his fifth year option of his rookie deal and is looking to become the highest paid linebacker in the game. This request may be an indication that these negotiations aren’t going the way White had hoped.
However, the Bucs like what White does for the defense. He has incredible physical gifts and has the ability to make splash plays as a pass rusher.
Head coach Todd Bowles has had nothing but glowing praise of White publicly and the team has indicated that they are not interested in trading him. Then Thursday Buccaneers’ general manager Jason Licht stated the team had no interest in trading White. That should be taken with a grain of salt as most GMs aren’t going to tip their hand.
The only way a trade will come to pass is if the Buccaneers are offered appropriate value. This would allow them to pass on giving White a massive payday and be well compensated for shipping off a star player. After all, everything is available for the right price.
But what is fair value for Devin White on the trade market? I attempted to map that out.
Roquan Smith Deal
The Chicago Bears found themselves in a similar situation last season. Star linebacker Roquan Smith was in the fifth year of his rookie deal and heading for a big contract in the offseason. However, the Bears are attempting to rebuild their roster from the ground up and did not want to pay that kind of contract.
This led to Smith being traded to the Baltimore Ravens. In return the Bears received a second and fifth round pick. The Ravens proceeded to make Smith the highest paid linebacker in the NFL.
Keep in mind that Smith is a superior player to White. However, White has a few things that Smith doesn’t that could increase his value. This includes elite athletic ability and experience leading his defense and a Super Bowl championship on his resume. These things are immeasurable, but undoubtedly valued around the league.
Outside Perspective
In an attempt to gain perspective from around the league, I asked other content creators who cover different teams what they valued White’s trade value at. Here are the replies I received.
I asked Tyler Forness of the VikingsWire what he thought White would fetch in a trade. He responded “Probably a third (round pick)”.
Jake Ellenbogen, host of the BleavInRams podcast said “Based on the Roquan Smith trade which is where I think you need to go on this, it’s a 2nd and a 5th. Smith didn’t have a deal yet. White doesn’t have one yet. I think a 2nd and 5th is fair”
Nick Kendell of Mile High Huddle had this to say. “Devin White is undoubtedly a superb athlete. With solid mass and explosiveness, White is a sideline-to-sideline pursuit player who is a plus weapon as a blitzer. However in an era where the off-ball linebacker has never been more devalued and White’s lesser play in coverage and tends to play over-aggressive causing him to misdiagnose plays. Given those factors, as well as the team trading him would need to account for his $11.7 million cap hit and just one year left of contractual control (on top of the new contract he is demanding resulting in the trade request) I believe White could garner the equivalent of a mid 3rd round pick in value.”
Finally, Brian Johannes of Huddle Report and the Titan Up Network said “I mean Roquan got a 2nd round pick. So I think that would be the best compensation”
A Buccaneers Perspective
When this news initially broke I also weighed what his value might be. Considering the Smith trade from last year and the other factors regarding White’s play I came to the conclusion that a second round pick would be fair value and I believe it would be enough for the Bucs to make this deal.
This could put the team in a bind this season as they would lose a key defensive player. However, with an additional second round pick they could draft a potential replacement in the early rounds. Even if it were a third round pick as compensation, that would still put them in position to draft a contributor in a less than stellar linebacker class.
It could also free them up to spend the $11+ million that White is due to make. That might address one of their higher priority needs via free agency and allow them to draft one of the top rated linebackers in the class, perhaps someone like Trenton Simpson in the late first or early second round. This would reset the linebacker clock with a controllable and talented player for the next several years.
Conclusion
When it’s all said and done, I don’t believe the Buccaneers will trade White. He is a valuable player who helped them win a Super Bowl and could be a foundational piece moving forward. He has earned his place in Tampa Bay history.
With that said, the idea of trading White has a lot of things to like about it. Not investing the money towards his contract means other players can stay with the team and get their big payday. The possibility of replacing him with a controllable day two linebacker could only be a relatively slight drop off in some ways and maybe even an upgrade in others.
In the end, Devin White asking to be traded could be a proverbial blessing in disguise.
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