The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have gone back to the well with veteran linebacker Lavonte David once again in 2025, this time with a 1-year, $9 million contract that brings him back for a 14th NFL season.
It wouldn’t hurt to put some young legs next to David via the NFL draft, where Tampa Bay could get great value in the early-to-mid rounds with Oklahoma linebacker Danny Stutsman, who Bleacher Report’s Brent Sobleski projects could be among a handful of “Week 1 starters” coming out of this year’s draft.
“Stutsman played in 47 games over his collegiate career, with a 104 or more tackles in each of the last three seasons,” Sobleski wrote. ” … 35 tackles for loss and seven sacks can be added to that tally as well. He clearly has a nose for the football and an understanding of running a defense … He is the type of experienced and productive player who should start sooner rather than later.”
Stutsman only amplified his draft stock at the NFL scouting combine in February, where he checked in at 6-foot-3 and 233 pounds and grabbed headlines by running the 40-yard dash in 4.52 seconds.
Three Seasons With 100-Plus Tackles at Oklahoma
We saw an elevated value put on college experience in 2024 after a pair of first-round pick quarterbacks with 40-plus college starts each stepped in and led their teams to the playoffs in Bo Nix and Jayden Daniels.
The same logic should be applied to defense and to Stutsman, who played 47 college games over 4 seasons and had over 100 tackles each of the last 3 seasons, including leading the Big 12 with 125 tackles in 2022.
In Oklahoma’s first season in the SEC in 2024, Stutsman earned All-American and All-SEC honors with 109 tackles. He also showed a proclivity for making big plays over his career with 37 TFL and 3 interceptions for 70 return yards and 1 interception return for a touchdown.
Bleacher Report’s Matt Holder projects Stutsman as a third round pick and compared him to Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson, who has 4 consecutive seasons of over 100 tackles.
“With Danny Stutsman’s combination of size and speed, he has plenty of potential to become a quality linebacker in the NFL,” Holder wrote. “He has a good frame and weight, and he fits the body type of a modern linebacker perfectly.”
David in Twilight of Legendary NFL Career
Adding Stutsman would not only give some cover to David in the present but also does something the Buccaneers have not been great at lately on defense — planning for the future.
For the last 13 seasons, David has been at the heart of the Buccaneers’ defense — a 3-time NFL All-Pro with approximately $94.6 million in career earnings and a Super Bowl ring.
While David isn’t as effective against the pass as he once was — PFF graded him out in the lower half of NFL linebackers with a 59.5 coverage grade — he can still make an impact against the run. In 2024, David led the Buccaneers with 122 tackles to go with 5.5 sacks, 9 TFL, 3 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery and 1 interception.
It was David’s third consecutive season with at least 120 tackles and he’s crossed the 100-tackle mark in 11 of 13 NFL seasons since the Buccaneers selected him in the second round (No. 58 overall) out of Nebraska in the 2012 NFL draft.
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