Joe is very intrigued by the silence from free agent Lavonte David’s camp.
Joe knows David, 36, told people close to him two or three months ago that he wasn’t planning on playing a 15th NFL season in 2026.
Then something changed.
David had his ailing knee cleaned up through arthroscopic knee surgery after last season and started feeling great. Right after the Super Bowl, David told the world he’s “got a lot of football left in me.” And David said it with confidence.
As of a couple of weeks ago, the Bucs didn’t know David’s plans. Early this week, David’s agent hopped on WDAE radio and said an answer on David is coming soon. The agent, Ron Butler, also said he was very aware of the two-year, $22 million deal signed by David’s friend and 2012 draft classmate Demario Davis.
Joe will add that David, for years, has said he talks regularly to future Hall of Fame linebacker Bobby Wagner, also from David’s draft class. Wagner is a free agent, too, and does not plan to retire.
As of March 14, the quiet from David screams to Joe that David wants to play or is at least leaning heavily toward playing. And that money will be a factor. Yes, the Bucs want David back, but at what price? Would David be willing to play for, say, only $4 million plus a bunch of incentives? He’s used to earning double that.
The Bucs signing 31-year-old veteran linebacker Alex Anzalone is likely enticing to David, Joe believes. Why wouldn’t David want to play next to a mature veteran linebacker for a change, a high-energy guy, too?
David hasn’t really had that since Daryl Smith started alongside him in 2016. Yeah, Joe could argue Devin White was a veteran in his last Bucs season in 2023, but he also was a locker room problem who was benched late that season.
A lot of Bucs fans think David is washed up and should wave goodbye and have a nice retirement party. But if he’s healthy, training and the surgery was successful, why shouldn’t the Bucs want him?
Draft a linebacker and let David mentor him and Todd Bowles figure out playing time.