Every team that wins the Super Bowl inevitably loses some key players to their competitors the next year. For the Buccaneers, several important pieces are about to become unrestricted free agents, including Shaq Barrett, Ndamukong Suh, Chris Godwin and Antonio Brown.
The most crucial one is Lavonte David, without whom these Bucs probably don’t win a championship. He is far and away the top linebacker who might become available in 2021 and this franchise has to make an effort if he does end up on the market.
Pros
The Panthers predictably missed Luke Kuechly a lot in 2020. While David isn’t as good as Kuechly was in his prime, he’s as close as any linebacker still in the NFL. David excels in every part of the game. Like Kuechly, he’s tight in coverage with 12 career picks and 51 pass breakups. He can also rush the passer (24 sacks, 55 QB hits) and stop the run (806 solo tackles, 128 for a loss). David practically never leaves the field, either. In six of his nine seasons in the league, he has played at least 97% of Tampa’s defensive snaps and he has only missed seven games.
Cons
The Bucs wisely don’t seem inclined to let David test the market. As Bruce Arians told him at their championship parade, “your ass ain’t going nowhere.” Even if they can’t work out a deal, signing David wouldn’t be easy. Any team that needs an off-ball linebacker might be in the mix and Spotrac is projecting his market value to be $12.7 million a season. Also, he doesn’t look it, but he just turned 31 years old.
Conclusion
It’s a long shot, but if Carolina is going to splurge on one defensive free agent this year then David will get them the best value. No other one NFL player could improve this defensive unit more.
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