Players from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers flying under the radar is nothing new. And while many of those players have gotten more exposure in the wake of the Tom Brady era in Tampa, there are two Bucs players who anonymous players around the league still believe don’t get enough credit.
The Athletic anonymously polled NFL players this year on a number of questions, including who the most underrated player in the NFL was. Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins led votes with 5.4% of 76 players polled, but two Bucs players received votes themselves — Bucs wideout Mike Evans with 2.7% of the vote and linebacker Lavonte David with one vote.
While it’s entirely possible that the players voting for Evans and David were Bucs players, few would likely argue that they aren’t underrated. Evans has recently gotten more acclaim for his consecutive streak of 1,000-yard seasons but was often not mentioned among the league’s best wideouts by pundits and experts. Lavonte David has been one of the NFL’s best linebackers during his career, particularly excelling in coverage, but has only one first-team All-Pro selection and two second-team All-Pro nods to show for it in his 10-year career.
David and Evans are both free agents next year, and assuming they do not retire, Tampa Bay will have to decide on whether to bring the two back at their age and with the money they are certain to command.
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