Well gang, it seems like we got a Buccaneers’ mystery on our hands.
There has been some smoke around Devin White and why he couldn’t play on Sunday. And while it is not exactly a breaking story at this point, I think it is interesting as it shows the fall that White has come through.
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As many of you probably remember, it was reported by Stacey Dales on Twitter that White would not be playing. Now, initially it came as a surprise as White had been practicing and seemed healthy. But then, the rest of the tweet says that the reason he was not playing was not injury related. In plain language, he was benched for KJ Britt. This report was quickly confirmed by Scott Reynolds, Rick Stroud, and Greg Auman. The only person who really didn’t confirm this report was Jenna Laine due to her source saying something different.
Breaking: #Bucs Devin White said he "couldn't go,' and was made inactive but the team planned to start K.J. Britt at inside linebacker. I'm told White's attitude has not sat well recently with some teammates and coaches. https://t.co/wO96K0TuAH
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) December 17, 2023
Source close to the situation with Devin White said, “That foot isn’t ready yet.” I’ve seen reports saying it wasn’t injury-related, but that’s what this source told me. KJ Britt played well last week.
— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) December 17, 2023
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Not a lot of people were surprised by this news. In fact, I’m almost positive I had champagne pops from Pewter Reports when they saw that news. KJ Britt hasn’t exactly lit up the score sheet, but he also hasn’t lit the defense on fire. He has been good, but not great. Which is better than hot garbage.
However, after the game is when things started to get spicy. Suddenly, reports started coming out that White threw a hissy fit when he learned he would not start and declared himself unable to go. That part of the story hasn’t really been confirmed, but it would be a damning confirmation of his terrible character and ill-fitting of a team captain.
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And to make this story even more confusing, Bowles comes out in his press conference and refutes that White only said he couldn’t go after he learned he was benched. However, this just doesn’t make any sense. Bowles says he had the conversation either Friday or Saturday (also strange he can’t remember the day), and made the call after White said the injury was still nagging. But, the thing is that he was reported not starting 10 minutes before the game. Whereas Josh Hayes and Vita Vea, both other gametime decisions, were reported by the Buccaneers Communications a couple hours before the game. And Bowles never really disputed the report before the game, only in the most recent conference today.
#Bucs HC Todd Bowles answering about Devin White – says White Friday or Saturday that he couldn’t play, so K.J. Britt started. That was it.
Bowles refutes that White said he couldn’t go after Britt was named the starter this week. pic.twitter.com/vsTVL3z5bj
— PewterReport 🏴☠️ (@PewterReport) December 18, 2023
So, what does this all mean? Well, not much. One of the things it does show is Bowles does not want to embarrass White or any of his players. It is a very strange situation, but regardless of who is right or wrong, White is done here. Every sign from the team has been White is very replaceable and has already been outperformed by players who are less athletic than him in pretty much every physical category. Wherever White goes, it will be interesting to see if he can ever return to his SB form.
Make sure you check out Devin’s blog at cannoncrunch.wordpress.com.
Cannon Crunch with Devin Sanguinett
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