Lavonte David Can’t Win (In The Perception Game)
June 7th, 2025
No respect.
Want an example of how Lavonte David is so overlooked as an NFL star? Joe has such an example right here.
Over at SI.com, Gilberto Manzano decided to rank the best defensive triplets of each NFL team. While on offense that generally means a quarterback, receiver and running back, it appears Manzano picks the best player on each of the three levels for his defensive triplets.
Manzaro ranks his Bucs’ triplets as No. 18. That’s fair when a team doesn’t have an edge rusher (hopefully, Haason Reddick, when he shows up, takes care of that). Manzaro chooses the Bucs’ triplets as Vita Vea, Antoine Winfield and David.
So who does he cite as the underrated player of that threesome? Hint: It ain’t David.
Triplets: Vita Vea, Lavonte David, Antoine Winfield Jr.
Vea remains one of the most underrated players in the league. He’s coming off one of his better seasons, recording a career-high seven sacks and was named to the Pro Bowl for the second time. David notched another 100-plus tackles for the 11th time in his 14-year career.
Vea is more underrated than David? Don’t think so. The run that Vea gets in the national mediasphere, from what Joe has seen, you’d think Vea is an All-Pro tackle.
Joe isn’t knocking Vea here at all. But Vea in just seven years has twice as many Pro Bowl selections (two) as David has in 13 years.
So Joe would suggests Manzano, in looking to knight a Bucs defender as “underrated,” didn’t see the trees for the forest. He looked right past David.
It seems the Bucs’ icon is the Rodney Dangerfield of the NFL. He never gets respect.