Lavonte David has spent his entire 12-year career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but with the star linebacker set to hit free agency next month, that may change soon.
However, David has made it clear that he wants to be back with the Buccaneers in 2024 as long as they will have him, and if not, he might consider retirement.
“Yeah you could say that,” David said on WDAE when asked if it was Buccaneers or bust next season. “It’s at the point right now in my career, 12 years playing for one organization, a place that I’ve grown to be a man, where I started as a young man and I grew into a man, you know, in the city of Tampa, just the love that the city of Tampa has for me and the love that I have for the city of Tampa, all the stuff that I impart into the city. I love doing my community stuff in Tampa. And just the organization for having faith in me and sticking around for this long time. Of course, I would want to do that. I would want to stay a Buc for the rest of my career as long as I play. I do want to retire a Buc, but, you know, it’s just got to be a mutual thing.”
David is coming off of a spectacular 2023 campaign in which he played 15 games and racked up 134 tackles, 4.5 sacks, a forced fumble and five passes defended.
The 34-year-old, who played his collegiate football at the University of Nebraska, was selected by Tampa Bay in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft.
By his second season, David was already a Pro Bowler and a First-Team All-Pro after rattling off 145 tackles, seven sacks, five interceptions, a couple of forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and 10 passes defended.
He made one Pro Bowl in 2015 after totaling 147 tackles, three sacks, three picks, a pair of forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, 13 passes defended and a defensive touchdown.
David has remained an incredibly steady contributor along the Bucs’ front seven, and it’s hard to imagine the Buccaneers’ defense without him in the fold.
Tampa Bay has considerable cap space going into the offseason, but it also has to worry about retaining Baker Mayfield and Mike Evans.
We’ll see if the Bucs have enough room for Lavonte David in the coming weeks.
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