Was Drafting Devin White A Mistake By The Buccaneers?

So I’m pretty sure I made a promise that I wouldn’t talk about former Buccaneers Linebacker Devin White ever again when he went off to Philly. But yeah, I’m talking about him. Well, kinda. More specifically, Jason Licht’s comments about him in the recent Athletic article.

Licht said that, knowing what he knows now, he would not draft White. Which to me, was really quite shocking to hear. Current GMs aren’t often that blunt about mistakes, especially for high first round picks. And if you remember what I have said about him before, I have always been on the side of saying it wasn’t a mistake to draft him. Yes, regardless of how it panned out, he did help the team win a SB.

To get more specific into why Licht said he wouldn’t draft White again given a do over, it was about character. He said White was too much about himself, and not the team as a whole. Which we can see now in retrospect, but looking back through draft profiles, I didn’t see that highlighted as an issue anywhere. As far as I could tell, there weren’t any off-field issues or any indication he was this selfish diva. Maybe I’m wrong, I was more of a casual fan that year so it’s possible I missed that. And the team would have a better idea than the average scout for NFL Network as they get a closer look. What I found weird is why he wouldn’t mention Jameis Winston as a guy not to pick due to character. He had way more baggage than White.

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But let’s assume for the sake of argument that the Bucs don’t go with White at pick 5. What’s the next best option? Well, as someone on Twitter pointed out, there is Josh Hines-Allen. Allen is definitely a more skilled player at his position than White is (and maybe ever was, even at his peak). And he would certainly have solved the edge rusher issue we have had since 2022. However, edge rusher wasn’t a priority for the Bucs heading into that draft since they had Shaq and JPP. So that also throws out guys like Nick Bosa, Rashawn Gary, Max Crosby (man there were a lot of good edge rushers in this draft).

But if looking at the same position, Dre Greenlaw would’ve been a better long-term option for the Bucs. He definitely didn’t have the same pedigree as White heading into the draft, but using hindsight, he would likely be on the team now next to Lavonte. Maybe we would’ve won the SB with Greenlaw starting, but that’s a big if because you have to assume he reaches a similar height to White or someone else picks up the slack. Even still, Greenlaw is a very capable starting LB and a guy I wanted in FA that I thought would boost the team quite a bit.

At the end of the day, the Bucs got what they needed from White to win a ring. Did it work out long term? Absolutely not. But you can’t deny what his impact was for the first three years. Sucks that it didn’t work out long-term, but sometimes it happens.