Getty Lavonte David #54 and Antoine Winfield Jr. #31 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers celebrate during the third quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium on February 07, 2021 in Tampa, Florida.
Should the Green Bay Packers not win the J.J. Watt sweepstakes this offseason, another All-Pro defender with recent success against their offense could tempt them in free agency next month.
Recently, Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report identified an ideal free-agent target for each of the 32 NFL teams in the 2021 offseason and deemed the best choice for the Packers to be none other than Tampa Bay Buccaneers inside linebacker Lavonte David, a 31-year-old veteran defensive leader who earlier this month won his first career Super Bowl ring.
Knox pointed to Christian Kirksey, who the Packers signed last March to be their new starting middle linebacker but released earlier this month after an underwhelming season. While they have 2020 rookies Krys Barnes and Kamal Martin primed to take the next step in 2021, someone like David could become a game-changer for their middling run defense.
Via B/R:
Lavonte David … has remained one of the league’s best all-around linebackers into his 30s. The 31-year-old recently helped the Buccaneers win a title and finished the 2020 regular season with 117 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, six passes defended and an interception.
The Packers would have to create more cap room to sign David, as they are projected to be nearly $10 million over the cap. However, David may be willing to take a team-friendly deal to land with another Super Bowl contender.
If the Packers could make it work financially, adding David would be a major boon to the linebacker corps and the defense as a whole. He’s a proven leader and could be the impact linebacker that Kirksey wasn’t.
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David Staying Strong Late in Career
David has been a consistent force for the Bucs defense over the past several years with his high level of play refusing to wane even as he has crossed into his 30s. He has averaged 120 tackles, 11 tackles for a loss and 6.5 pass deflections over his past two seasons and has consistently garnered top-notch grades from Pro Football Focus for his efficiency as a run stopper.
The other appeal is David’s career health. He has only been forced to miss seven games due to injuries in his nine seasons as a full-time starter, two less than Kirksey missed in his lone season in Green Bay in 2020. Given Barnes and Martin also both missed time with injures as rookies, the Packers could be motivated to install a more reliable veteran to maximize their current Super Bowl window.
The trouble, as always, is the cost …
Could Packers Afford David?
David is coming off a five-year, $50.25 million deal with the Bucs that paid him an average salary of a little more than $10 million, and Spotrac’s calculated market value estimates he will earn even more annually on his next deal — about $12.7 million a year or $38.14 million over three years. Even with the Packers’ best and brightest contract wizards on the case, it would be a stretch to assume they could take on something so burdensome.
The Packers are still in the middle of trying to lighten their books for 2021 after already cutting both Kirksey and veteran offensive tackle Rick Wagner and restructuring All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari’s new contract. Based on the latest projections from salary-cap specialist Ken Ingalls, the Packers still have about $12.5 million in cap space to free up before the start of the new league year on March 17.
Hardly the environment suited for a top-dollar free-agent acquisition.
As Knox mentioned, the Packers would have to hope the allure of being a Super Bowl contender might convince David to take a team-friendly deal, which is the same general sense around the Watt situation — although, none can be sure what either veteran’s motivations are in free agency. Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst would be crazy not to take a call from David’s camp, but the willingness to spend big, even on a proven star, might simply not make sense.
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All-Pro Linebacker Deemed ‘Ideal Target’ for Packers