Lions LB Devin White Pushing For Starting Role

As Campbell suggested, and as White’s lengthy stay on the open market made plain, White’s 2025 performance as a member of the Raiders did not impress. Despite racking up 174 tackles over the course of a full 17-game slate (all starts), Pro Football Focus considered White the league’s seventh-worst linebacker out of 88 qualifiers, and Birkett notes the former first-round pick was written off by some as a stat-stuffer on a bad team. Indeed, White now has four seasons of 100+ tackles on his resume, but the advanced metrics have never been high on his work.

He did earn second-team All-Pro honors in his second professional season in 2020, when he posted 140 tackles and a career-high nine sacks as a member of the Buccaneers’ Super Bowl-winning defense. Campbell, then on the coaching staff of the division-rival Saints, said White looks like he did back when he was viewed as an ascending talent.

“That’s what I remember in Tampa Bay when I was in New Orleans,” Campbell said of White’s performance in camp with the Lions. “That was the guy. He was a headache. … And so, it’s pretty exciting right now. Let’s see where he’s at. He’s going to play in his preseason game and let’s see where he can go. But we like what we’ve seen so far two weeks in.”

Jack Campbell – who was one of two players to record more tackles than White last season – is the anchor in the middle of the Detroit defense, while Derrick Barnes is the starting strong-side ‘backer. Malcolm Rodriguez entered training camp as the favorite for the starting gig on the weak side after Alex Anzalone’s free agency defection, but he recently missed a week of practice with a sprained ankle. 

White it does not sound if that ailment will be a lingering one, White may have already leapfrogged Rodriguez on the depth chart. As noted previously, fourth-round rookie Jimmy Rolder is out indefinitely with a severe hamstring injury, but contrary to prior reporting, White said he and the Lions were working on a deal before Rolder went down.

In related news, it appears Rock Ya-Sin has secured a spot as Detroit’s top boundary corner opposite D.J. Reed, as Birkett writes in a separate piece. 2024 second-rounder Ennis Rakestraw missed all of the 2025 season with a shoulder ailment after seeing limited action as a rookie, and while he remains in the boundary CB mix, Birkett says Nick Whiteside looks like the first outside option behind Reed and Ya-Sin. Per Birkett, Rakestraw has taken some first-team slot reps as the Lions try to extract value from a high draft pick who has yet to provide much of a return on investment.