Heading into the 2023 season, Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Devin White clearly wasn’t thrilled that the team had not yet offered him a long-term contract extension.
He requested a trade, but the Bucs kept him on the roster to play out the fifth-year option on his rookie contract.
The No. 5 overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft, White’s inconsistency continued throughout the 2023 season, and he dealt with multiple injuries. He was eventually benched for K.J. Britt, and finished the year as a rotational player for the Tampa Bay defense.
White hit free agency after the Bucs seemingly showed no interest in re-signing him, and he landed with the Philadelphia Eagles on a one-year contract.
Some Bucs fans have wondered, if they were just going to let him walk in free agency this offseason, why didn’t they trade him last year instead of letting him go for nothing this year?
Well, the details of White’s one-year deal with the Eagles provide the most logical answer:
If the best deal White could find on the open market was that low, chances are the Bucs wouldn’t have had much of a trade market for him last offseason. They might have had a couple of teams willing to give them a late-round pick for White, but his weak market this year is a clear indication of how the rest of the league values him.
