Eagles linebacker Devin White started his career with four good years in Tampa Bay, but in his fifth year last season, things went south. Now he thinks he’s in a better place for himself.
White said on the Pivot podcast that the one-year, $4 million contract he signed with the Eagles was not the best offer he got in free agency, but was with the team he thinks is best suited to helping him get his career back on track.
“I took less, because I felt it was a better situation,” White said, via the Tampa Bay Times. “That lets you know it ain’t about the money. It ain’t ever been about the money. It’s about being in the right situation, the right environment. and being able to have fun.”
The 26-year-old White said he spent last season trying to play through a painful foot injury, and that when he reached the point where he simply couldn’t go anymore, someone within the organization — whom he didn’t name — pressured him to play hurt.
“That’s kind of when it went real downhill,” White said. “It was already downhill when I asked for the trade. . . . Everybody loved me at first, but when I asked for the trade and tried to do what was best for me, that turned everybody against me. Not everybody, but some higher-up people.”
White said he has a great relationship with Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles and doesn’t blame Bowles for anything that went wrong. But there were clearly others within the franchise whom White did not appreciate. And now White thinks he’s with an organization that has his own best interests at heart.