Linebacker Devin White asked the Buccaneers to trade him earlier this year because he wants a long-term deal that the Bucs aren’t offering as he enters the fifth and final year of his rookie deal, but both General Manager Jason Licht and head coach Todd Bowles have said that the team will not be trading him.
White has not joined the team for the voluntary portion of offseason work, but linebackers coach Larry Foote downplayed the impact of White’s absence. Foote said he would prefer that White be with the team, but “it’s not going to hurt him from the standpoint of playing” and that he “will be doing all I can to make sure [White] stays in tune with what we’re doing” for as long as the absence lasts.
White is set to make $11.706 million this year and Foote noted that there are a lot of worse positions to be in as a player.
“Well, he’s not going to be the first and he’s not going to be the last. We know that,” Foote said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “Like I told him, he gets paid $11 million this year. Those are champagne problems. . . . It’s money. It’s money. So, looking at the guaranteed money, you know, he wants his money now. But he’s got to understand, the organization, they’re preparing for next year so we’ve got to meet somewhere in the middle. I don’t know how it’s going to play out. They picked up his fifth-year option. It came across yesterday, a lot of players, they don’t get that option. But it’s money and I understand that. Like I said, he’s not the first and he’s not going to be the last. It’s part of the game.”
White would be subject to fines from the team if he continues to stay away during mandatory periods of the offseason and training camp. It’s unclear what his plans are on those fronts and whether there’s any chance of movement on the contract front before that’s put to the test.
