The 2019 regular season is in the books, and for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they head into the offseason with a newfound sense of optimism. After a 3-7 start to the year, the Bucs finished 7-9 and now hold the 14th pick in April’s NFL draft.
One of the biggest bright sports of the Bucs’ season was the strong second half performance of rookie linebacker Devin White, who was sidelined for several games earlier in the year with a knee sprain. White had dominant performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars, and even returned a fumble 91 yards for a touchdown in Week 17, the longest fumble return in franchise history.
White also earned NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month honors for both November and December, proving he is one of the league’s young emerging stars.
Which is why it is so surprising to see White ranked only at No. 11 on Daniel Jeremiah’s list of the top 25 rookies of 2019 over at NFL.com. DJ had White ranked at No. 8 on his list at the beginning of December, but dropped him three spots on his final list. Jeremiah moved New York Giants rookie quarterback Daniel Jones up 11 spots from 18 to 7 on the latest list. It’s hard to wrap your head around the fact that White, who has been as dominant as any rookie defender the past two months, would fall down the list and out of the top 10.
I’m sure any team in the league would jump at the chance to get a young star like him. Maybe White can use Jeremiah’s list as added motivation heading into the offseason.
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