Former Buccaneers linebacker Devin White could’ve had a more graceful exit. White leaving hasn’t exactly upset the fan base with most saying that he was great in 2020, but sucked since 2022. Thank you for the ring, enjoy Philly. And to give White credit, he did have a genuinely nice message when he signed with Philly.
And his Eagles press conference was also along those lines. But there was one line that really stuck out. He said, “Now you get an opportunity on a bigger stage, it’s a bigger platform here, it’s a better all-around team built right here, right now to do great things. And I want to be a part of that.”
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Now, it is kind of hard to see why he would say that considering that team lost 6 of their last 7 games and lost in the playoffs to the Bucs 32-9. Although it may make sense since White was only on the field for the Buccaneers 25-11 loss to the Eagles, so maybe he forgot. Either way, talented teams don’t usually get blown out like that, especially in a prime time playoff game.
The other part of the quote that caught my attention was the idea of a better stage. The fact that he is mentioning the bigger stage kinda shows where his mindset is, but that’s neither here nor there.
However, his comments about said “bigger stage” does remind me of the comments Carlton Davis made in Detroit. Both basically said the fans for Tampa don’t show up. Now, to be clear they are correct… if we’re talking about the Rays. But since the Bucs actually play in Tampa, it is a different story. The Bucs have had issues selling seats, especially before Brady showed up. And the Bucs did have an issue this year with resellers who were trying to jump off the bandwagon when TB12 left.
That being said, I think that will change. They likely won’t travel nearly as well as the Eagles or Lions fans, but with the Bucs having a pretty successful season, I think that will encourage fan turnout. People like watching a winning team. Hell, it’s the reason why every Lightning home game feels like a playoff game. Multiple Stanley Cups does that.
It just feels kinda weird to take shots at your former team like that. Especially when said team lost in embarrassing fashion to the team you just left. I get that he wants to gas up his new team, but I feel like he could’ve done that without saying the Buccaneers are worse. Either way, Philly’s “bigger base” will certainly make their voice heard if he makes a mistake.
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