LB Devin White Signing With Lions

White had an incredibly promising start to his NFL career as the fifth overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft for the Buccaneers. White got to benefit from the mentorship of an all-time Buccaneers legend as he started as a rookie next to Lavonte David. In the team’s 2020 Super Bowl-winning campaign, White and David shared second-team All-Pro honors as the second-year backer led the team with 140 total tackles while adding nine sacks, 15 tackles for loss, and 16 quarterback hits from an off-ball role.

White’s trajectory appeared to be continuing upwards with a Pro Bowl campaign the next season, while he consistently churned out disruptive numbers as a healthy full-time starter. Tampa Bay exercised the first-rounder’s fifth-year option after his Pro Bowl season, and when the two sides failed to reach an extension agreement, forcing him to play out the fifth-year option, White requested a trade. He eventually reversed course and played out the final year, but it quickly became clear it would be his last in Tampa Bay.

Despite the way White was able to fill up a stat sheet, he has never been viewed favorably by the analytics. In his second-team All-Pro campaign, Pro Football Focus (subscription required) graded him as the 62nd-best linebacker out of 83 players graded at the position. The next year, in his Pro Bowl season, PFF saw him at 79th of 86. This trend continued after he left the team, as well. Despite finishing 2025 with the third-most total tackles in the NFL, White ranked as PFF’s 82nd-best linebacker out of 88 last year.

After losing his starting job near the end of his tenure in Tampa Bay, White signed with the Eagles on a one-year, $4MM deal but, despite being on track for a starting role in the early summer, he was released during the team’s Week 5 bye without having played a single snap in Philadelphia. He signed with the Texans a couple weeks later but contributed only minimally with one start in seven games to close the season. He signed to the veteran minimum with the Raiders last year as he attempted to redeem his value, and he returned to his ways of filling up the stat sheet while not satisfying the analysts.

The Lions are not short on linebacking talent. One of the two players with more tackles than White last year was Detroit’s Jack Campbell. With 176 total tackles, nine tackles for loss, five sacks, five quarterback hits, and three forced fumbles, Campbell earned Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro honors for the first time in his career in 2025. While former rookie starter Malcolm Rodriguez‘s play has declined over the last few years in Detroit, Derrick Barnes has stepped up as he’s matured in the Lions’ system.

There isn’t much tested depth at the position behind those three, though. The team did add Michigan’s Jimmy Rolder in the fourth round of this year’s draft, but according to Justin Rogers of the Detroit Football Network, Rolder exited practice yesterday and will be out “for a while.” Per Rogers, the addition of White is “directly tied to” the loss of Rolder. The loss of the one-year starter for the Wolverines is a painful one as it hurts the team’s depth at the position while missing out on Rolder’s special teams abilities.

Rolder had hamstring issues throughout the pre-draft process, so the early injury trouble doesn’t come as much of a surprise. According to Schultz, he is being evaluated for a leg injury with sources saying that he “didn’t suffer a severe injury,” but he will “miss some time.” Regardless, the absence provides White with another opportunity to play next to an All-Pro linebacker one again. For his analytical woes, White brings production and starting experience to Detroit.