As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head into the offseason we will be going over each potential free agent the team needs to make a decision on. Do the Pewter Pirates “Re-Sign or Let Walk” will be a series of articles analyzing who we think will/should stay and who will be let go to test the free agent market. Next up, linebacker Devin White.
Spotrac’s Valuation
At this time Spotrac has calculated the market value of Devin White at $20.1 million a year for a four year contract. This of course is built on multiple factors. Those include, age, inside linebacker ranking, and statistical comparisons of other players. This contract builds upon similar contracts for inside linebackers who recently received multiyear deals at close to the same age with similar assessed impacts to a team. Fred Warner, Roqua Smith, and Shaquille Leonard got the nods to which the comparison was made. Each earning around the projected amount that SpotRac has assessed for White. But does that align with the views of the Buccaneers staff and front office?
Missing In Action
From the perspective of contribution the answer starts to take shape. White, who did miss a few games this season, found himself sharing a portion of the snap market with K.J. Britt to close out the season. In the game against the Eagles White found himself not starting but also taking a decreased role with 44% of the snaps to Britt’s 56%. The biggest red flag would follow with the loss against the Lions. In a huge demotion White only played 19% of the defensive stats. In total he played 78.4% of the snaps this season at inside linebacker. Slightly higher than the amount he saw his rookie season with the same amount of games (72.4% in 2019).
Compare that to the likes of Warner, Smith, and Leonard whom which the monetary comparison is built on and you see players who’s snap counts sit around 95-100%. Now of course they played more games due to their ability to stay healthy but this is where there is a departure from the expected value of a player.
Contribution
This season fans noticed a drop off in play for White. With the lowest totals in his four years in combined tackles, tackles, and forced fumbles. His second lowest numbers in quarterback hits, tackles for loss, and ties his rookie year lowest total in sacks.
Now, K.J Britt’s numbers don’t stand out that much in their totality but he only played 14.9% of the defensive snaps all year. He didn’t record a sack, forced fumble, or interception like White did. So for comparison sake when we look at tackles and tackles for loss where Britt performed better. Britt averaged a tackle on 11% of plays while White averaged out at 9% of plays. Tackles for loss Britt averaged out to .6% o tackles for loss of play and White .5%.
Now this comparison between White, who is a free agent, and Britt who may have already replaced him is somewhat uneven. It’s clear Britt is performing well against the run and his motor has him not taking plays off. A criticism of White that we have seen this season as replays show him slowly jogging behind some plays. White performs better in pass rush situations, but Britt hasn’t been used there as much so there still remains a question of his abilities in that realm.
Further Comparison
Shaquille Leonard when he was awarded his contract that’s being used for comparison (2021) he played all 16 games, had 122 combined tackles, 75 solo. Adding in four tackles for loss, three quarterback hits, four interceptions, eight forced fumbles, and seven pass deflections he played a huge role. It was a career year for him where he earned Pro-Bowl and All Pro honors. Although Leonard recorded zero sacks that season, he also was not used in attacking the quarterback as often. Given White’s previous play this season and last he’s not that impactful.
Final Thought
White is not coming back. Period. It seems as though injury and ego have taken his play down. He’s certainly not worth the $100 million he originally wanted. Subsequently, he may not be worth the $80 million valuation Spotrac has on him. He is surly not getting it from the Buccaneers.
To top it all off after he removed all Buccaneers related material from his social media pages and posted angrily when called out by fans during the Lions touchdown.
So for now, If I’m the general manager, I’m perusing David and a possible free agent. If can’t get the depth needed that way then it pushes the need in the draft further up the totem pole. Fingers crossed Britt can continue to grow because White wont be back.
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