It’s tough to recall many football careers that have gone directly over the cliff the way former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Devin White’s has over the past 2 years.
Now, the former Super Bowl champion and NFL All-Pro might be down to his last shot at continuing a career that showed so much promise at one point.
“Sources: The #Raiders are signing veteran LB Devin White to a 1-year deal,” Fox Sports NFL insider Jordan Schultz wrote on his official X account on March 28. “Raiders GM John Spytek drafted White in Tampa Bay and now reunites with him in Las Vegas.
“Devin White was an All-Pro, Pro Bowler, and Super Bowl champion with the #Bucs, where he was the No. 5 overall pick in 2019. Now, he reunites with Tom Brady, a minority owner of the #Raiders, and will play under DC Patrick Graham and new HC Pete Carroll.”
The Raiders will be White’s fourth team in 3 seasons after he spent all of 2023 with the Buccaneers and split 2024 between the Philadelphia Eagles and Houston Texans.
White Coming Off ‘What If?’ Season for the Ages
White signed a 1-year, $4 million free agent contract with the Eagles in March 2024 after spending his first 5 seasons with the Buccaneers and seemed in line to start at one of the inside linebacker spots.
The Eagles made the stunning move to release White on October 8 and never even put him on the active roster through the first 4 games of the season. Following White’s release and a 2-2 start to the season, Philadelphia reeled off 10 consecutive wins and won their second Super Bowl in the last 8 years with a blowout win over the Kansas City Chiefs on February 9.
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Eagles soured on White after Nakobe Dean outplayed him and took his spot on the first team defense in training camp. White was vocal about taking less money to play in Philadelphia in 2024, where he thought he could eventually be a “dominant” player again.
“Rather taking such and such with another team that don’t have the pieces around to even allow me to become even better,” White told The Pivot podcast on Aug. 6. “For me, I know I have to rebuild myself and show I can be that dominant middle linebacker … to be on a great team that’s going to be great in the future and I want to be around long term.”
White Once Regarded as Elite NFL Linebacker
White was named to the NFL All-Rookie Team in 2019 after the Buccaneers selected him No. 5 overall in the 2019 NFL draft. He won a Super Bowl alongside Brady following the 2020 season, when he was also named NFL All-Pro, and was named a Pro Bowler in 2021.
That’s when things went off a cliff. In 2022, White missed a career-high 16 tackles and was targeted heavily in the passing game — opposing quarterbacks had a collective 120.5 passer rating when they threw at White.
Before the 2023 season, White requested a contract extension that would have made him one of the NFL’s highest paid inside linebackers. The Buccaneers refused, White requested a trade and the Buccaneers responded by picking up the fifth year option for his contract. In 2023, White had a career high in games (3) and a career low in tackles (83).
In 2024, White signed with the Texans after he was released by the Eagles and had 19 tackles in 7 games.
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