Tampa Bay Buccaneers LB Spells Out What it Would Take to Keep Career Going

A big question surrounding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this offseason is whether Lavonte David will be back in 2026.

David has been a franchise cornerstone, twice being named an All-Pro and helping the Bucs win the Super Bowl in the 2020 season.

But David will be 36 in a week, and this past season, he started to show his age for the first time.

On the surface, David still has some left in the tank, ending the 2025 season with 114 tackles to lead the team.

But looking at advanced metrics, David struggled.

Per Pro Football Focus, David ranked 67th out of 89 players at his position in overall defensive grade (52.6), 39th out of 41 players in pass rush grade (48.6), and 63rd out of 78 in pass rush grade (45.1).

David’s highest grade was in run defense, at 66.2, but even that was below average (66.2).

David also revealed after the season that he had been playing with a knee that needed to be drained weekly, which shows that he’s still motivated enough to play hurt, but also showed that his body may be breaking down.

On an episode of “Bussin’ With the Boys,” hosted by Tennessee Titans great Taylor Lewan and David’s Nebraska teammate Will Compton, David was predictably non-committal about coming back.

But he did lay out the factors he’s considering in his decision.

“Am I going to be focused?” Daid asked rhetorically. “Am I going to be locked in? Am I going to be, am I going to have my best foot forward for the team, you know, for 17, 18, weeks of the season?

David is still a captain and emotional leader for the Bucs, routinely giving locker room speeches both in victory and defeat, so he was still locked in enough to fire people up.

There’s also the question of what David can still do physically.

“Am I still gonna be able to, you know, cover tight ends?” he said. “Am I still gonna be able to punch and shed? If I’m gonna be able to, you know, make physical downhill tackles the way I always do?”

People outside the organization have already begun to prepare for life without David.

One Mock Draft has Tampa selecting Ohio State ILB All-American Sonny Styles at pick No. 15.

The Bucs also have free agent options in Nakobe Dean, who has a Super Bowl ring with the Philadelphia Eagles, Devin Lloyd, who helped the Jacksonville Jaguars to the postseason this past year, and Devin Bush, who didn’t sniff the postseason with the Cleveland Browns but played well enough to get All-Pro votes, living up to his first-round potential for the first time in years.

Whatever David decides, he’s already cemented himself as one of the best to ever play for the Bucs.

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers LB Spells Out What it Would Take to Keep Career Going

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