Bucs Three-Year Outlook: ILB

You can’t talk about Bucs inside linebacker contracts in 2023 and start with anyone other than Devin White. The 25-year-old requested a trade this offseason amid unhappiness with his contract situation. He wants to be a $100 million linebacker and Tampa Bay wasn’t ready to give him that kind of contract, so he wanted out.

It’s unlikely that any other team would’ve made White a $100 million man anyway, but the Bucs maintained that they would not trade their 2019 first-round pick all along. Instead, they want him to play out his fifth-year option in 2023. He’ll make around $11.7 million this season as he looks to prove to the Bucs’ front office — or a front office elsewhere in the league — that he deserves a big-money deal next offseason.

White’s situation has been hanging over Tampa Bay and put a damper on an already-tough offseason, but there was reason to celebrate a development with the linebacker position during the spring. That, of course, was the return of team legend Lavonte David for another year in red, white and pewter. There was some worry that he may land elsewhere in free agency, but he elected to re-sign with the Bucs on a one-year deal. It’ll be year 12 for David in Tampa, and with his career winding down, he’s likely to continue approaching things from a year-to-year perspective.

David and White will start at inside linebacker for the Bucs in 2023, and behind them is a mix of returning depth and exciting newcomers. K.J. Britt enters year three of his rookie deal, while Ulysses Gilbert and J.J. Russell will look to beat the odds and stick on the roster out of camp.

Gilbert and Russell face long odds because of the Bucs’ additions of SirVocea Dennis — a fifth-round pick — and Jeremy Banks — an intriguing undrafted free agent. Dennis is on a standard four-year rookie deal, while Banks is on an undrafted rookie deal with little money guaranteed. If things pan out, though, Tampa Bay could have him for the next three years before he becomes a restricted free agent in 2026.

How This Year Impacts 2024 & 2025

The future of the Bucs’ linebacker position is murky at best. The 2023 season will determine a lot, and it starts with Devin White. If White balls out this season, it’ll set him up for the type of contract he’s been wanting. Now, will he get his next deal in Tampa Bay? Or will the front office be reluctant to shell out that kind of money, forcing him to look elsewhere? Perhaps he even opts to hit the open market next offseason regardless of what the Bucs may be offering.

On the flip side, if 2023 brings more of the same for White — eye-catching playmaking ability paired with inconsistency and lapses in sticking to his assignments — what then? White is likely to be looking for a big-money, multi-year deal next offseason no matter what. If he remains the same player he has been for the first four years of his career, the Bucs would be taking a pretty sizable gamble by offering him that kind of contract. But there’s so much more to the uncertainty at the linebacker position going forward.

If White walks next offseason, Tampa Bay will need to replace a starting inside linebacker. There are some in-house options, which we’ll get to shortly. But before we take a look at the rest of the depth chart behind the starters, we have to talk about Lavonte David — the Bucs’ other starting inside linebacker.

David re-signed on a one-year deal this offseason. He talked about wanting to be a career Buc, and he took a pretty team-friendly deal to play his age-33 season in the colors he’s worn since being drafted in the second round of the 2012 draft. He said last summer that he was looking to take things year-to-year, so it’s hard to envision what the future holds for him beyond 2023. If he plays at the level he’s proven capable of (even as he’s aged) and wants to play again in 2024, it would presumably be on another one-year contract with the Bucs.

But what if David elects to retire after 12 seasons? That would leave a gigantic hole in Tampa Bay’s defense, and if this is the same reality where White is out the door, that leaves two high-caliber linebackers for the Bucs to replace next offseason.

That’s what makes 2023 so important for the likes of SirVocea Dennis, K.J. Britt and potentially Jeremy Banks. Dennis has the blitzing ability and high football I.Q. necessary to be an intriguing replacement for one of the Bucs’ starters next season, but whether he proves that on the field in 2023 — and whether Britt or Banks makes their own case — will determine just how heavily Tampa Bay will have to invest in the position next offseason in free agency and/or the draft.

Three-Year Outlook: Bucs Inside Linebackers

The inside linebacker room is in for an overhaul. Whether that’s next offseason or the offseason after that, this will be a group in transition very soon. Consider the idea of White leaving next offseason and David retiring. That would mean two new starters at linebacker in 2024. David has been a mainstay since 2012, while White has been a fixture since 2019. Losing both in one offseason would be quite the shift for the Bucs to deal with.

In another reality, maybe the team only loses one of them. If it’s White and David sticks around for his 13th season, preparations will still need to be made for the potential of losing the Buccaneer legend the following offseason. Now, if it’s a scenario where David retires and the Bucs do give White the big new contract he wants, there will at least be some longer-term stability. David would be a huge loss, but at least the defense would still have a key contributor in his mid-20s patrolling the middle of the defense.

The futures of both White and David are hanging over this position group right now, but there’s at least some intriguing talent the team may be able to develop over the next year — and another offseason. Dennis shined during his first dose of action in the NFL, starring at rookie camp, OTAs and mini camp. He could very well be a successor to one of the Bucs’ current starters, which would be a welcome sight for the group. Dennis will be around for the next four years, after all.

Britt and Banks are a bit different than Dennis, and for different reasons. Britt has been around and is more of a known commodity. He knows the defense well and has experience in Todd Bowles’ system, but his athleticism and speed appear to give him a limited ceiling. Banks, on the other hand, is the opposite. He has the tools necessary to be an undrafted gem for Tampa Bay, but he has to put it all together. And that’s with the assumption that he even makes the team out of training camp in the first place.

It’s not possible to predict who the Bucs’ starting inside linebacker tandem will consist of in 2025 and beyond. It’s not even really possible to project what the position will look like next year. Will it be White and Dennis? David and Dennis? Dennis and Banks? It could even still be White and David for all we know now. We just don’t know.

Three-Year Outlook Summary

In three years, the Bucs’ inside linebacker room is bound to look vastly different. David will surely head into retirement by 2025, signaling the end of a fantastic era in Buccaneer history. He’ll see his name up in the Ring of Honor within the next decade, but exactly when will depend on when he hangs up the cleats. And who’s to say where White will be, even by 2024? Dennis and Banks blossoming into future starters would be huge for Tampa Bay, but regardless, the team will have to invest in the position in the next couple of years to really solidify it going forward.