Bruce Arians On Devin White
September 4th, 2019
Lassoed in preseason?
In a 19-17, Week 2 home loss to immortal Rams quarterback Austin Davis back in 2014, just before halftime the Bucs had the ball at their own-40 with 11 seconds left and two timeouts.
Two quick passes and the Bucs were in field goal range, or who knows, a Hail Mary?
But nope. In his postgame remarks, Lovie Smith said scoring points there would only be bad. WTH???
Well, that stunning comment came to mind yesterday when Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians was asked to assess rookie linebacker Devin White’s preseason. Joe is not the lone person in the media studio at One Buc Palace to recognize White has largely gone unnoticed this preseason.
Arians replied, “I thought it was extremely solid. As far as running the show and doing all of those things.” But then Arians added this and Joe’s jaw nearly dropped like a largemouth bass, “I don’t get into tackles and all of that.”
What? You draft a middle linebacker fifth overall and you’re not worried about tackles? Drafting a linebacker that high, one would think you’d expect the guy to be Ray Lewis!
Arians a few hours later hopped on “Late Hits” with co-hosts Alex Marvez and Bill Polian, heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio. There, Arians talked more about White. He classified White’s preseason stats as “OK” but went on to explain he wanted White to call the right plays and get everyone positioned properly.
“The game is not too big for him,” Arians said. “We put him out there, he is the signal-caller, he made all the adjustments. Statistically, he had an OK preseason but I thought he played really, really well because of the things that we asked him to do: run the checks, give us the right prompts, get us in the right coverages. He did a heck of a job.”
Arians, speaking to the local pen and mic club yesterday, also offered that the Bucs were sort of holding White back and will use him differently in the regular season.
The inference here is that the White we saw (or didn’t see) in preseason is not the same linebacker we will see beginning Sunday at the Den of Depression when the Bucs host the 49ers to kick off the 2019 season.
Joe sure hopes that is the case.
September 4th, 2019 at 8:10 am
Relax….
September 4th, 2019 at 8:10 am
Learn to do the job first, then everything else will fall into place.
September 4th, 2019 at 8:14 am
I didn’t like him coming out. His tape was not impressive to me, not for a #5 overall pick. He looked the same during the preseason. I hope we are all made to look silly, but he has serious bust potential in my eyes.
September 4th, 2019 at 8:19 am
Doesn’t DW have a green dot on his helmet and an earpiece connected to a bunch of professional coaches up in the press box and on the sideline?
It’s not like they’re asking him to ride a unicycle backwards on a high wire while blindfolded.
If he can’t do it, start Cichy, the Cheech Wizard.
September 4th, 2019 at 8:23 am
Dude has played LB about as mike Evans had played WR when the Bucs drafted him: far less than his peers. Remember how raw Mike was, and how he’s managed to improve annually even after approaching elite status? I think Devin might follow a similar path. He’ll look raw this year but he’ll still have upside after his first All Pro season while a dude like Devin White hits his ceiling much sooner
September 4th, 2019 at 8:36 am
I was at that game! The halftime strategy was definitely *not* the reason why they lost that game.
Arians said a few unusual things in his press conference yesterday. I think he’s already in mid-season form when it comes to the local press. Just canned responses and not giving much thought to anything he’s actually saying.
September 4th, 2019 at 8:39 am
He will be great!!!!! I can count one one finger the qty of rookies calling teh defense in his rookie year.
September 4th, 2019 at 8:44 am
In stark contrast. The coaching staff cringes when Apples McGoo call an audible at the line of scrimmage
September 4th, 2019 at 8:51 am
The dude is learning to be a defensive quarterback, we all know that he can tackle and play instinctively
September 4th, 2019 at 8:57 am
Even NFL ready players suffer through a learning curve. White will be just fine.
September 4th, 2019 at 8:59 am
When he tracks down Kamara or CMac for a 5 yard loss, you’ll know he was a quality pick. Dude can flat out burn the turf.
September 4th, 2019 at 9:21 am
O just coughed up the food I was eating… WTH IS WRONG WITH THIS FRANCHISE?!?!?!?
September 4th, 2019 at 9:35 am
Allen was the right pick. White will never be more than a serviceable starter that you hope to upgrade every year. With cancer93 gone he will learn how to quit and cash checks from Dotson and LVD by mid-season.
September 4th, 2019 at 9:46 am
we’ll see….
GO BUCS!!!!!
September 4th, 2019 at 9:52 am
What exactly are you saving Devin for and who are you trying to surprise by holding him back? That’s the biggest BS I’ve ever heard. He’s the #5 pick. He’s not going to catch anyone by surprise. He’s supposed to be ballin out. I hope he develops the instinct to play the game and not get caught up in the mental game of positioning his teammates and calling the right audible. I mean that’s great if we get that but first and foremost I’d prefer seeing him lay the wood. Let him acclimate himself with the speed of the game and be instinctive instead of starting him off being overly analytical.
Don’t stunt his growth!
September 4th, 2019 at 9:56 am
he only has 3 yrs experience at LB, which concerns me, but if they coach him up and he learns the game fast, his physical abilities are a generational talent level. Its a risky pick at number 5, but as BA says “no risk it, no biscuit”
September 4th, 2019 at 10:05 am
Been saying they were NOT showing him for weeks.
R.E.L.A.X.
September 4th, 2019 at 10:05 am
People around these parts don’t even understand good coaching anymore.
September 4th, 2019 at 10:10 am
When the 1s we on the field the run defense looked stout because guys up front were making plays, opportunity want really there to make a ton of tackles and add long as he stayed disciplined with his gap he is doing his job. What I didn’t see was teams going after him, he wasn’t missing tackles, and I don’t think he missed assignments in the passing game. Don’t let a tackle stay make the judgement, sometimes guys get tons of tackles 8 yards down field and the stats look good, but it’s because the rest of the defense stinks. Barrett Ruud comes to mind.
September 4th, 2019 at 10:23 am
Looks like Tmax used the preseason to prepare for the regular season of trolling the bucs. He is ready to assume his role of dissenter in charge. How empty and lonley his life must be to bash his supposed home team constantly. Once gmac left I incorrectly thought he would go away, but his negativity has only grown. It seams that he has become the comical sideshow for this blogsite….
Give Devin White a few games to experience the NFL full speed. He will produce as expected.
September 4th, 2019 at 10:23 am
On one of the episodes of The Tampa Two, Derrick Brooks said he spoke to Devin White and advised him to just learn the playbook and do his job and everything else will fall into place. Devin will be ok.
September 4th, 2019 at 10:45 am
Kgh4life
getting advice from one of the least intelligent players to ever play the game of football is not a good thing…. white does not have a sapp to carry him the way 55 was carried… let the washed up has beens from the failed past go… hanging onto one year wonders is sad
September 4th, 2019 at 10:54 am
We haven’t played a game yet so I’m not too worried about how Devin will do. There is a learning curve. You would hope that by the sixth or seventh game he would start looking like Ray Lewis. If not at least we’ll be able to complain about not drafting Josh Allen.
September 4th, 2019 at 11:08 am
55 is One of the least intelligent players to ever play the game of football. Ignorance at its finest
September 4th, 2019 at 11:30 am
Holding back, huh? Maybe like hiding an uppercut behind a jab? Great if it works. Not so much if your opponent lands a haymaker while you are being cute. Still, I trust Arians knows what he’s doing with Devin White and the rest of the team. Everything’s vanilla during preseason anyway.
Go Bucs!!
September 4th, 2019 at 1:32 pm
Devin Bush is a rookie and he was calling the plays making tackles and pretty much looking like a 5th pick of the draft. Anothe Jason Licht blunder. At this point I’m beginning to believe in could do his job way better than he can.
September 4th, 2019 at 1:33 pm
Dirks Great Granpappy
Truth hurts 55 is the only guy on planet earth that Vince young can beat at jeopardy…. go storm….
September 4th, 2019 at 2:43 pm
Joe’s opinion doesn’t qualify as “fake news.” C’mon, man. –Joe
September 4th, 2019 at 3:57 pm
dhutch said his college tape did not look impressive
DUMBEST FAN BASE IN SPORTS!
September 4th, 2019 at 3:58 pm
Firejasonlicht says after 2.5 quarters of play since bush looked better than white that white was a draft blunder by licht.
like I said…
Dumbest fan base in sports!
September 4th, 2019 at 3:58 pm
Titling an article “Bruce Arians on Devin White” and then taking his actual comments out of context to imply a two time coach of the year isn’t concerned with how his middle linebacker tackles is, if not fake news, otherwise improper journalism. Journalistic truth involves conveying a fair and reasonable meaning to facts.
September 4th, 2019 at 4:09 pm
If you polled every current general manager or coach in the Nfl today and asked if they would rather have a franchise altering middle linebacker or pass rusher, the vast majority would choose pass rusher. I hope Devin White has a fantastic career, but drafting him at 5 was dumb as hell. If he’s the next Hardy Nickerson, I’ll gladly eat my words, but so far so bad. 😉
September 4th, 2019 at 10:01 pm
Silliness… check back if he hasn’t reappeared (in the sacks column) after the first few games. Just makes no sense to beat the Devin hasn’t shown up yet drum before the season starts. He’s an elite athlete playing a key position in Bowles D… he’s going to be just fine.
September 5th, 2019 at 12:01 am
This was actually a good pick. Early for a lb but we needed help on defense here with Kwon winning the lottery. Leads me to believe it was arians more than Licht. If it was licht picking here he would’ve drafted Gay at 5th overall thinking it was already the 5th round.
September 5th, 2019 at 4:15 pm
I think we need to realize what he’s saying. The guy is NEW in the NFL & before you can make tackles x sacks you gotta know what you’re doing & what everybody else is doing. That’s step 1 & that’s what preseason is for. So mission accomplished, once he does that then his skills will take care of themselves.