The Bucs have a bit of an unknown at the position heading into the season.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had a solid linebacker corps for years now, partially due to the presence of Buccaneers legend Lavonte David. But with the departure of another player this offseason, the unit faces a big unknown.
The Bucs are likely to run linebacker K.J. Britt alongside David this offseason after the departure of linebacker Devin White to the Philadelphia Eagles. That leaves a big unknown in the unit, and Pro Football Focus agrees, having ranked the Buccaneers' linebacker room No. 23 in their latest linebacker corps rankings league wide.Lavonte David's play finally started to decline in 2023, with the 34-year-old having his lowest-graded season in coverage since 2015.
K.J. Britt is relatively untested, having played just 328 career snaps, though he did earn a 72.0 PFF run-defense grade in his third NFL season."It is true that Britt is untested, but he won the favor of Todd Bowles last season while replacing Devin White and could be a strong player for the team. If that doesn't work out, the Bucs also have SirVocea Dennis out of Pitt, who will be entering his second year as an NFL player and could also fill that role if needed.
David may have lost a little bit of a step, but he remains one of the team's best players and still performed very well last year for the 2023 season. Provided he doesn't get injured, David is likely still one of the better coverage linebackers in the league, much less for the system Bowles runs. We'll just have to wait and see how Tampa Bay's linebacking corps looks in action , but both David and Britt should be highly motivated heading into next season.River Wells is a sports journalist from St. Petersburg, Florida, who has covered the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since 2023. He graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Florida in 2021. You can follow him on Twitter @riverhwells.
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