Buccaneers’ Todd Bowles Sends Message to LB Devin White Amid Controversy

Getty Devin White, Buccaneers linebacker

As lightning-rod players go, Devin White is probably the biggest attractor of controversy the Buccaneers have. When he is engaged and playing at full-throttle, he is a playmaker who can change a game singlehandedly and a favorite of coach Todd Bowles.

When he is off, though, he is mistake-prone and a source of great frustration for Buccaneers fans.

Sunday’s win over the Jaguars was White’s best game of the season, and among the best of his career, which has featured second-team All-Pro honors and a Pro Bowl selection. White had 6 tackles and a half-sack, and made a brilliant play on an interception that stopped the Jaguars’ opening drive.

On the play, White faked a blitz then hustled back and toward the sideline, covering about 20 yards in less than three seconds to make the pick.

That helped set a tone for the impressive 30-12 Buccaneers win.

Coach Todd Bowles had a pretty clear message for White this week: Keep flying around like that, and we’ll be just fine.

“He can help us a great deal – you saw that on Sunday,” Bowles said. “Obviously, we got up early, so some of the packages [the defense] would have had where K.J. [Britt] got more time didn’t materialize. It ended up being that type of ballgame.

“That doesn’t mean we’re through using K.J. because we are going to use him some. A healthy Devin White, a fast Devin, Devin flying around like he did Sunday, makes us a faster defense.”

Devin White Finally Healthy for Buccaneers

White said he is finally feeling healthy after dealing with a foot injury for much of the year, an injury that had kept him out of the last three games (perhaps, at least).

“Being able to just have a motor, being a high-motor guy. You know, when I was hurt my motor knocking; you know, it needed to go in the shop,” White said, via the blog JoeBucsFan.com. “And I will admit that, and obviously I was out there and I’m not shying away from it. But just being healthy, just being able to go out there and have energy and fly around and make plays. I’m just thankful to be back to that.”

At Pro Football Focus, White was graded at 92.7 for Week 16, his highest grade of the season. He has, for much of the year, posted horrible grades and even with the stellar week vs. Jacksonville, White still has an overall grade of 46.9, which ranks 84th among the 87 linebackers who have played at least 20% of their teams’ snaps.

That’s the issue the Buccaneers have at linebacker—they never quite know which Devin White they’re going to get. He can be one of the best in the league at his position and one of the worst.

Todd Bowles Started K.J. Britt, But Not for Long

Bowles did not start White on Sunday, instead having K.J. Britt play to open the game. But Britt played only 3 snaps. White played 63.

According to reports, refuted by Bowles, White was slated to come back from his foot injury in Week 15 in Green Bay, but was informed that Britt would start. Once he was told he was not starting, the story went, White pouted and said he would not play at all.

Maybe what we saw Sunday was the compromise—White did not start but he played nearly every snap thereafter.

Either way, it is a good time for the Buccaneers to put all that behind them. The team has won four straight games and can seal a playoff spot if they make it five in a row against New Orleans on Sunday. That would eliminate the Saints from contention in the NFC South and give the Bucs the tiebreaker edge over Atlanta even if Tampa lost to Carolina in Week 18.

A high-motor White would help.

“It just showed me that when I’m right, I can go make the plays as far as just speed-wise and braking and stopping on a dime,” White said. “It’s allowed me to put myself in position.”