Report: Browns Dearly Covet Lavonte David
February 27th, 2021
Wanted
If Lavonte David is still a free man by the time Uncle Ira burps from his corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day when the free agency dinner bell rings, an AFC playoff team in 2020 will make a serious run at him.
Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer is plugged in with the comings and goings of the Browns like nobody else. And she learned the Browns are going to be a major player for David, the long-time Bucs linebacker, if he cannot work out a contract with Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht.
David, one of the hottest names set to hit the free agent market in two weeks, is on the team’s radar as they look to bolster their linebacker position, league sources tell cleveland.com.
Just judging what Cabot typed, Joe guesses “league sources” means David’s agent, Ron Butler, had a text exchange with Cabot. Joe will further guess that perhaps David’s agent isn’t getting enough cash thrown in his face by the Bucs, so he decided to start ginning up the market for his client with a well-placed, well-timed text — on a Saturday night for the Sunday fishwraps.
If the Bucs get into a bidding war with any of their Big 8 free agents, Joe hopes it is with one of the following: Shaq Barrett, Chris Godwin or Ryan Succop.
February 27th, 2021 at 9:34 pm
Yup. Player Agent stirring the pot. Liar’s Poker.
We’ll know in two weeks.
February 27th, 2021 at 9:48 pm
I sure hope that we can come up with some “cap friendly” incentive programs that will keep this team intact but reality is that someone is likely to walk. Regardless of who it is, someone on this site will be outraged that we let them be stolen away.
I personally have a love/hate relationship with all the speculation.
Long and short, when all the dust settles, we’ll still have a competitive team with a chance to repeat.
When is the next game scheduled?!?
It can’t come soon enough!
February 27th, 2021 at 9:49 pm
LVD has made 50mm already so money not a major factor….browns over Bucs
Get real, SMH , so stupid
Godwin and shaq haven’t made bank so they’ll want to be paid but LVD Suh Gronk aren’t looking to break the bank
February 27th, 2021 at 9:52 pm
Shaq and David are the 2 free agents Im really scared to lose. We dont got much to replace either and cant make up for it with the players around them………If we lose either I think it will be a big difference in a negative way.
I could say the same about Gronk but feel like theres no way he leaves Tom Bradys side.
February 27th, 2021 at 10:00 pm
Who wouldn’t want LVD….a consummate pro……has gas in the tank……reliable, experienced……good in coverage….can tackle……great attitude…….sure would hate to see him go.
February 27th, 2021 at 10:06 pm
At some point, age is a factor. LVD is very important to our defense and would be hard to replace but tough choices will need to be made this year and for the future.
February 27th, 2021 at 10:08 pm
The problem with most of these so-called superstar players is they eat up so darn much cap space they don’t leave enough to share with ream mates.
Tom Brady could command 35 million, but he leaves enough to share with the team so he has lots of help.
That is why the Pats go to the SB every year.
Part Brady, part better team mates
February 27th, 2021 at 10:15 pm
I completely understand a player wants to get paid. But this is the team that drafted him. They gave him the chance to start, stuck with him, signed to $10 million per the last five years.
Now they finally have a great team, won a Super Bowl, and have a chance to win more over the next couple of years. He is going to get at least that offered to him for another 4 most likely.
I know it’s hard to say what one would do in that situation- but I could not see myself leaving for a little bit more money to a completely different situation.
Something else to consider, state tax in Cleveland is 8%. So at $10-$13 million a year contract in Cleveland loses 800,000 to 1.2 mill compared to Tampa
February 27th, 2021 at 10:18 pm
We must have Lavonta David back. He is the heart of this def.
Gronk, open huge lanes for our RB. He isawall in protection. And he is an excellent receiver (2TD in SB!!)
Succop is our best option as a kicker and he is over 90 % for FG! And I cannot imagine to see again our struggles like in the past and see another lost just because our Kicker miss a FG at 30 yards! Succop is a MUST, or I am not sure my TV set will survive next year,… I was so piss**ed in the past,… My mental health as a completely freak Bucs fantastic will not survive another bad Kicker. Succop is my pill against insanity,… Ha! Ha! I LOVE the guy! My hero!
The others guys will ask just too much I am afraid. Suh is willing to stay, and far from finished. If the price is OK we will have him back.
Even if we all want them all back, the others will break the bank somewhere. Bad for us, but good for them. I wish them the best. And anyway, we will be a contender. Gosh this offseason is already too long! I’m dying for the next Bucs game already,… Imagine,… Ha, ha, ha,…
Go BUCSS!
February 27th, 2021 at 10:39 pm
Fred mcneil makes a great point: Brady could command a LOT more money but doesn’t ask for it. He understands how important it is to “share” with others.
$25 million is chump change for a superstar QB.
And other players know it.
February 27th, 2021 at 10:57 pm
Fred and cobra
Brady just a few years ago only made 13 , 14, 15 a year. His last year in new england, He made just north of 20 mil. He played for chump change.
He made more in tampa this year at 43 then any year in new england.
One contract in around 2005 was like 9 years 27 mil. Other qbs always made way more. Read article the other day that he left around 60 mil (at least) on table.
February 27th, 2021 at 11:01 pm
In regards to lavonte , he is 31. Give him a 3 year deal …with maybe 2 years guaranteed.
Dont forget derrick brooks played until he was 35. Very similar players and fast. Derrick last year was a big fall off (again at age 35)
February 27th, 2021 at 11:26 pm
That’s alright. I’d rather play Dime every snap anyway & let Devin White hunt
February 27th, 2021 at 11:33 pm
Lavonte is a true Buc defensive captain that has been showing out every year with the Bucs his entire career. #8 ranking LB in 2020. Best LB coverage rating in 2020 since 2016. How can anyone want to break up the band with White? Lavonte still playing like he’s in his prime and age doesn’t seem to be a factor these days if you know what I’m getting at. Always been great in the community. Not giving him money and giving it to Shaq??? LVD my favorite Buc. If he left, I would whither up and die crying in a deep dark corner.
Like Godwin, I hope Lavonte won’t run away from this Super Bowl winning defense for a few extra Bucs.
February 27th, 2021 at 11:48 pm
SOEbuc
Exactly- don’t break them up. White and David are a force together.
February 28th, 2021 at 1:59 am
FL’s no State income tax is an advantage but not as big as some calculate. Players pay local games State taxes. So Bucs players pay FL taxes for at least 8 games. When they play The Jets in NY they pay local taxes Not FL.
February 28th, 2021 at 2:35 am
Bird, he’s making a bit more this past year. But not as much as he’s valued.
February 28th, 2021 at 2:56 am
i could see lavone in the browns uni in my head…
he will look good in it…
and could fit in nicely there…
they need a few decent vets in there…
dude would be trading brady for mayfield tho, as his qb…
but if he choses to go from the bucs to the browns…the 2 worst franchises in the league for quite some time, he is potentially playing with fire…
stay lavonte…be a buc for life…take 3 years 40 mil…call it a day and have a spot and ties to the organization for as long as you like…if you so choose…
he’s hoping to get a kwon deal…what was it???…like 4 years 56 mil…
you ain’t going nowhere lavonte – you’ll be a fish outta water and that ain’t your style young man…
you have clout here – and here is where you shall stay…
stay salty …but stay 🙂
February 28th, 2021 at 3:33 am
Cleveland is a $h!t hole. Who would want to live there?
February 28th, 2021 at 3:40 am
Sign Barrett. Tag LVD. Sign Suh, Succup, Gronk. Extend Smith and Marpet. Use the $ to do this by letting Godwin walk. Pains me to say that, but Godwin is the most replaceable on the team.
February 28th, 2021 at 5:45 am
Unless the Browns are dumb enough to give David a C.J. Mosley type of contract, I think he stays with us for 11-12 million per year. David is one of my favorite Bucs of all time, but most successful teams do not overpay for 31 year old linebackers no matter how good they are.
February 28th, 2021 at 5:58 am
The next 2.5 weeks are critical: the 2021 league year and free agency period begin at 4 p.m. EST on Wednesday, March 17th. On that date, all 2020 contracts expire & eligible players are free to officially sign deals with other clubs. It’s what WE do between now & then that gives us some advantage over the other 31 teams with our own FAs.
There’s another little ‘rule’ that applies that’ll work in our favor (I think). Prior to the start of free agency on March 17th, teams must ensure that they are below the salary cap for that particular season. Teams cannot enter the new league year above that salary cap and must either release players or restructure contracts to get under the salary cap. As of right now, we’ve still got about $24 mil of CAP space to play with, BUT … it looks like 11 teams are in negative numbers ALREADY & will have to release some players prior to 17 Mar. Bummer for them but potentially good for us (more top FAs available in each position group?).
I personally don’t expect to see much movement until right before the Mar 17th start of FA. Then we’ll probably see a flurry of Bucs’ FA signings (our own FAs that is). Time will tell.
February 28th, 2021 at 6:24 am
Fred
His deal was 25 mil but since he had mvp numbers in all categories i think it came to around 28 mil with escalators
Last season with new was his only season above 20 mil per. He made 23
And last post was typo. 3 years 27 mil.
February 28th, 2021 at 7:49 am
Lavonte David is one of my favorite Bucs of all time, but most successful NFL teams do not overpay for 31 year old linebackers, no matter how good they are.
He may be playing in Cleveland next year, if they outbid us for his services.
February 28th, 2021 at 7:59 am
So we’re all talking about how to keep all the great players we have instead of talking about who to draft to replace our crappy players?
It’s so much fun being a winner! We should have tried this sooner.
February 28th, 2021 at 9:14 am
Ha, ha. A friend of mine though that I was serious about my TV set. Don’t worry, I am a pacifist. My TV set is in complete security even if we loose.
When our BUCS loose it is very quiet in my house. You can heard a fly. It is when we win that my voice is shaky the day after! ( Too much you hou! Let’s go!!)
I agree with tou guys. My favorite buts is Lavonta David too! Here forever, and have the BUCS at heart. love him. I would be crushed if he go. But, hey, it’s his living. If he decide to go, I will wish him well,… but please Lavonta,don’t go for NO! ha, ha,…
GO BUCS!
February 28th, 2021 at 9:31 am
If he wants to move to Cleveland Ohio for a few more sheckles, let him. You don’t over pay for a 31 year old LB.
February 28th, 2021 at 9:40 am
We haven’t drafted his replacement,
So let’s try and get a deal done.
He isn’t the player he was 5 years ago
But he is still really good
February 28th, 2021 at 10:03 am
David is gone – at 31, he’s heading into the year to year deal part of his career. Not worth the 15m he’ll get. Good linebacker but linebackers are easy to find.
February 28th, 2021 at 10:06 am
Tag LAVONTE and sign SHAQ
February 28th, 2021 at 10:25 am
Bucanero — the tag value on David is $15.6m.
Come on man, he is not worth that. The market will be flooded with talented guys that would play well for half that money.
February 28th, 2021 at 10:28 am
HMMM move from Tampa to Cleveland. You couldn’t pay me enough. DefRules is right a ton of FA’s will be available. Let Lenny go, keep Godwin, Suh, Gronk the ones who have really expressed wanting to stay. Keep Succop, his value was underrated and olin, the offense hasn’t peaked yet, D has. The rest will work itself out. If Godwin goes got to keep Brown, I hate to see Brown go Bucs fans haven’t seen what this guy can do. The others, go get the money if that is the end goal.
February 28th, 2021 at 10:41 am
Some of you said it TB12 deff should be the highest paid player in the NFL there’s no doubt about it. We don’t win a super bowl without him yet look at the money he makes. If he commanded the money he should get we’d have no money left but he knows that in order to make a diff sometimes you gotta sacrifice the money if you want to get the rings. Hope the young guys take note of this. Also helps his wife makes more money then he does lol
February 28th, 2021 at 11:06 am
You know what’s sad? The guy who couldn’t garner a pro bowl or all-pro nod despite putting up ungodly numbers for a crap team in a small market with terrible uniforms is now the gal everyone wants to dance with. My dad would call these people “Johnny Come Lately’s.”
I hope Lavonte tells them to take a long walk.
February 28th, 2021 at 11:33 am
Yes Tom Brady accepts fewer shekels each year than what he COULD be paid if that’s the route he chose to go. It wasn’t; he valued WINNING above all else AND knew what it would take to be a winner. And in his case he chose to surround himself with lots of talent, which never comes cheap. It helps that he’s got enough other things going for him in life to be able to choose that path. Some players apparently don’t feel that they have that luxury. Hey, it’s THEIR choice.
Lavonte may or may not feel the same way Brady does; it’s his choice, not ours. (Personally I think that he does). Spotrac lists his Market Value as $12.7 mil annually, based on him receiving a 3-yr contract for $38.1 mil. Might a team like Cleveland overpay him & offer him say $15 mil a year for 4 yrs? Of course. But again, we can’t control that, nor can we decide how LVD will respond to an offer like that.
My personal opinion is that LVD really wants to stay a Buc & finish out his career here. (He has been our captain for quite a few years & more than likely views the Bucs as being HIS TEAM). At 31 I doubt that he’s even thinking about when he’ll have to ‘hang it up’, so this next contract will still need to be ‘competitive’ with what other teams might offer in terms of length of contract AND guarantees. I still think that the Bucs will ‘do him right’ and that he’ll end up a Buc with a 4-yr contract, 2-yrs guaranteed in the neighborhood of $40 mil total, maybe even a tad more.
Of course, as my wife reminds me daily, I’m wrong more times than I’m right, so there’s that.
February 28th, 2021 at 11:40 am
I like Defense Rules take.
February 28th, 2021 at 1:16 pm
DefenseRules: 4 yrs @ 40m is less than he made last year. Some team will offer 4yrs @ 60m with 30m guaranteed.
I dont care who you are, you take that deal. Yes, he’s made money in his career & yes, he’s a captain but players play for money.
Fans are emotional and romantic. Players are not.
February 28th, 2021 at 2:03 pm
Joe likes to say that people from out of town are tied in. I think lots of times they are tied in. However, Joe constantly over sells it.
I tend to go back to previous years to see how correct they were in the past.
Mary Kay Cabot was saying last year at this time that the Browns were after Jadeveon Clowney, Trent Williams, Joe Thuney and Anthony Harris. They ended up with none of them.
Well so maybe she is right that they want LaVonte David but who knows how valued he is to them. I doubt the 15 million per season figure. But sure LaVonte David is going to be valuable to a lot of teams because he is good.
February 28th, 2021 at 3:08 pm
Guys like Clowny are still chasing the pot of hold and bounce around for the extra $. If you’re a professional athlete just playing for the money tells me you’re not a team player. I am not saying go the Brady route and under value yourself for the better of the team but always chasing the money doesn’t always pay off look at Dez Bryant. I have a feeling AB & Lenny will be begging to get a Bucs contract.
February 28th, 2021 at 6:26 pm
SMFH. Are you people serious about this over 30 BS? It’s getting really OLD! Like Tom Brady old (dudes got Medicaid). Like JPP old. Like AB old. Like Gronk old. Like Jensen old. It’s getting Suuuh old.
Lavonte is the center piece of this defense and just had his best year cus he played lights out and won a Super Bowl after 8 years of not going to the playoffs. #8 LB. Nothing short of amazing in pass coverage. Shut Kelce down. Some serious strings might need to be pulled to keep him, but I don’t see Licht making that kind of bad “it’s a business” move and let him walk.
February 28th, 2021 at 8:43 pm
Lavonte isnt replaceable
March 1st, 2021 at 8:20 am
David is not dumb enough to go to the browns. No matter how much money is on the table. He played 8 years with no playoffs. I think the dude is smart enough to realize his best shot at winning another ring is with Tom Brady and the Bucs.
March 1st, 2021 at 9:43 am
+1 to TampabayAllday’s comment. He was good. Thank you for your service Lavonte, but enjoy Cleveland.
SOEbuc, sorry, but holding Kelce to 110+ yards, given the scheme, is a decent game but certainly not Hall of Fame stuff. There are other OLBs that could play next to Devin much cheaper.