Highlights From Jordan Whitehead’s Welcome Back News Conference
March 14th, 2024
Bone-crushing Bucs Super Bowl safety Jordan Whitehead signed with Tampa Bay this week after two years cashing a check from the mess that is the New York Jets.
Today, Whitehead was in front of Tampa Bay media talking about returning to his first NFL home.
Joe’s got highlights!
*Whitehead is loving being back with the team that drafted him in 2018. “It feels good. It feels like it’s home. It feels like I never left, the people, how much love I’m getting, just brings back a lot of memories. … Brightens my day. Can’t be happier.”
*Whitehead said he loves safeties coach Nick Rapone and is so glad to be back with him.
*Before the 2021 season, Whitehead bought a house in the Bay area and he still lives there. Yes, he was hanging out with his former Tampa Bay teammates even when he was with the Jets, and he said Antoine Winfield Jr. is one of his best friends. “We’re going to push each other,” he added.
“I don’t what player wouldn’t want to play for [Todd Bowles,]” Whitehead said, noting “I was bummed” when he left the Bucs after the 2021 season.
*Whitehead said he learned plenty with the Jets in a different scheme, spent much more time in coverage and is a better player for that — and for playing against Aaron Rodgers every day in training camp last season. “I’m happy that I got to step away to elevate my game.” He expects to be elevating more with the Bucs and delivering lots of leadership.
*Yes, Whitehead said he kept watching Bucs games.
*Whitehead also said he has a newer friend on the team, one he met after he joined the Jets. That is running back Rachaad White.
*Don’t worry about Whitehead staying fit. He said he’s still a gym freak and wants to be bodybuilder when his football career ends.
March 14th, 2024 at 4:28 pm
Smart man keeping his digs in Tampa.
March 14th, 2024 at 4:32 pm
Love it
March 14th, 2024 at 4:37 pm
Welcome back bro!
^^mtnbucman^^
Since ’76
March 14th, 2024 at 4:45 pm
I was pissed when he left. The dude is a baller. Never should have let him slip away, but he’s back where he belongs now.
March 14th, 2024 at 4:46 pm
Was Whitehead talking in the third person for this whole piece or did you forget to attribute all of these quotes?
March 14th, 2024 at 4:49 pm
Whitehead sure knows how to lay the lumber!
March 14th, 2024 at 4:53 pm
Best safety team in the league?
March 14th, 2024 at 4:54 pm
Psyched the heavy hitter is back!! We now have two awesome freaking safety’s.
March 14th, 2024 at 4:54 pm
welcome back!
March 14th, 2024 at 4:55 pm
Joseph C Simmons Says:
March 14th, 2024 at 4:46 pm
Was Whitehead talking in the third person for this whole piece or did you forget to attribute all of these quotes?
Joe (in this case Jo-dan) loves safeties coach Nick Rapone.
^^mtn^^
Since ’76
March 14th, 2024 at 4:55 pm
Extremely happy to have him back on the team. Really integral part of the Super Bowl run and a great player with a knack at forcing turnovers.
PS That bodybuilder comment is going to get him tested more often for the remainder of his career.
March 14th, 2024 at 4:59 pm
So happy that Jordan is back. And one of his best buddies is Antoine Winfield Jr. It all sounds great!
March 14th, 2024 at 5:15 pm
Whitehead and Dexter Jackson won SB’s then left only to come back. Warrick Dunn missed out and came back.
March 14th, 2024 at 5:26 pm
He literally set the tone for that NFC championship versus GB
March 14th, 2024 at 5:36 pm
How many of you watched the Jets first game of the season?
If you didn’t see it, Whitehead ABSOLUTELY DOMINATED!
Whitehead had 3 INTs in one game. He was the best player on the field.
Winfield lead the Bucs in INTs last year with … 3.
March 14th, 2024 at 5:51 pm
Top S Duo. Top Wr Duo. Top LT. LVD
Team will fill remaining needs in rounds 2-4
Just an Edge Rusher in Round 1 away
Bucs are nearly altogether Elite
March 14th, 2024 at 5:53 pm
SlyPirate Says:
March 14th, 2024 at 5:36 pm
How many of you watched the Jets first game of the season?
If you didn’t see it, Whitehead ABSOLUTELY DOMINATED!
Whitehead had 3 INTs in one game. He was the best player on the field.
………
Nice hearing that they have someone that can catch the ball in the defensive backfield. 3 in a game is a nice accomplishment. Take aways wins games.
March 14th, 2024 at 5:55 pm
Now we need a CB and a few edge rushers and another DT on the defense. Will be interesting to see where Devin White ends up?
March 14th, 2024 at 6:10 pm
Whoop de Dooo!
March 14th, 2024 at 6:12 pm
Stay healthy
Him and Dean
March 14th, 2024 at 6:32 pm
Odd all the calls for Cb.
We traded Davis, because we have his replacement.
Zyon played more downs than Either Dean or Davis.
Coach Bowles wanted Zyon to start at outside CB. Now he will.
We have Dean,Zyon, and Izien as our 3 starters.
We can always use depth, but thats all we need. We arent looking for a starter.
We already found one
March 14th, 2024 at 6:37 pm
Love hearing this. Love having him back. Shouldn’t have let him go, but water under the bridge. Welcome back Jordan!
March 14th, 2024 at 6:50 pm
Welcome back Jack-Hammer.
March 14th, 2024 at 6:55 pm
I could see Todd Bowles having a ball with some of his new toys this year. Back in 2019 for instance, TB had Whitehead blitz 58 times in his 14 games (like 4 times a game). He cut it down to 36 blitzes in 2020, then to 30 blitzes in 2021, but that’s still a LOT of blitzing for a Safety. Winfield blitzed 45 times in 2020, then only 21 times in 2021.
So our 2 starting Safeties blitzed a bunch in 2020 (81 times) and a little less in 2021 (51 times). Between the 2 of them, they had 5 sacks & 13 QB pressures in 2020 (in 81 blitzes) and then 2 sacks & 8 QB pressures in 2021 (in 51 blitzes). That’s about 1 QB pressure every 6.3 blitzes … a pretty decent return on investment IMO.
March 14th, 2024 at 7:02 pm
Another good later round pick by Licht……solid player….good character……will really help the back end of our D.
March 14th, 2024 at 7:05 pm
Buc4evr … ‘Will be interesting to see where Devin White ends up?’
I keep wondering about that too. Several of our guys who left last year (SMB, Edwards, D Smith) played for relatively little $$$ IMO, and yet we apparently made no attempt to re-sign them. Guess they figured they’d just replace them with rookies, or slide someone else into their spots. And maybe we had no choice because of our salary CAP situation.
Our problem right now seems to be that KJ Britt isn’t nearly as fast as Devin White was, and Dennis hasn’t come along nearly as fast as I was hoping. And since we only play 2 ILBs, that’s not a good thing (we need the speed to cover sideline to sideline). Maybe they plan on drafting a speed-demon ILB, but I wouldn’t expect to see us draft one in the Top-3 rounds (although maybe we won’t have a choice).
I kinda wonder if maybe Devin White might be back after all. I doubt it based on letting him hit FA, but stranger things have happened.
March 14th, 2024 at 7:06 pm
This season is going to be First to Wors.t..Book it.
March 14th, 2024 at 7:08 pm
The signing of Winfield and Whitehead will allow the Bucs to focus on other positions of need in the draft.
Which is good because there is a pretty thin safety class in this draft.
March 14th, 2024 at 7:14 pm
There will be some pretty talented WR’s available when Bucs pick , and you can never have too many great WR’s. After QB and Edge-WR has become 3rd most coveted position.
March 14th, 2024 at 7:25 pm
DW45 headed to Seattle for interview
March 14th, 2024 at 7:30 pm
Birds couldn’t get Ridder Desmond fast enough.
March 14th, 2024 at 7:31 pm
@ 88
That’s interesting.
DW45 was asking the Bucs for $20M per… I wonder what he is asking Seattle to pay.
lol.
League minimum plus $2M in incentives.
March 14th, 2024 at 7:35 pm
Whitehead was the second worst coverage safety in the league last year. Also gave up the most TDs of all safeties in the NFL. If you read the Jets message boards, fans are happy he’s gone.
Todds scheme might be more conducive to his skill set, but best safety duo in the league? Mmm…
March 14th, 2024 at 7:39 pm
The run defense just improved by 1/2 yard per carry
March 14th, 2024 at 7:41 pm
should be the best safety duo in the league next season
March 14th, 2024 at 7:50 pm
Devin White to the eagles.
March 14th, 2024 at 7:55 pm
Devin white bye felicia RIP bozo
March 14th, 2024 at 7:58 pm
1 year, $7.5 mil
March 14th, 2024 at 8:03 pm
I agree “Hearty Dickerson,” you could stick a ‘tin can’ out there alongside of Winfield Jr. and it’d still probably be a Top-5 Safety-Room. Also, I watched that first game of the season when he had ‘3-picks’ and thought well, he’s off to a Pro-Bowl Season… Well, that was about the only game he showed up in. He ended up with FOUR. Guess he thought he could just coast after that. Hopefully, being back home in a Bucs uni will light a fire back under him. He looked pretty BAD in the rest of the games I saw him play in.
March 14th, 2024 at 8:11 pm
Welcome back Thumper.
March 14th, 2024 at 8:17 pm
Welcome Back Jordan Whitehead!
Man, did we miss you!
March 14th, 2024 at 8:18 pm
Diva White might do alright in Philly.
The will probably use his strengths, but glad he’s gone.
Thanks for 2020.
March 14th, 2024 at 8:31 pm
Now that Devin White is an eagle im excited to watch what Sirvocea Dennis can do. I have a feeling if he stays healthy he’s the Bucs next great linebacker after Lavonte David
March 14th, 2024 at 8:32 pm
I got 5 messages all at once about white to Philly. Ah, the joys of being a Bucs fan in south jersey.
March 14th, 2024 at 8:49 pm
I will be interested to see the contract details from the Devin White deal.
I respect Howie Roseman – he must see something he likes.
I guess time will tell if D. White is done or if he returns to his former self.
March 14th, 2024 at 8:55 pm
to philly with love !
🙂
March 14th, 2024 at 9:01 pm
HC Grover Says:
March 14th, 2024 at 7:06 pm
This season is going to be First to Wors.t..Book it.
^^^^^^^^
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You said the Bucs would be terrible last year, too. How did that work out for you? Are you a closet Saints fan? 🤔
March 14th, 2024 at 9:09 pm
Joe in Michigan, Grover is a troll nothing more or less
March 14th, 2024 at 9:11 pm
Bye 45! Thanks for 2020, I am sure your great attitude and pass coverage is going to fix all of the eagles problems…..
March 14th, 2024 at 9:11 pm
does anyone think the ceiling is any higher than 10 games this year???
i mean have you looked at the schedule…
seriously…it’s no joke
March 14th, 2024 at 9:16 pm
devin will be chasing baker around at ray jay next year at some point…
eagles are a visiting
March 14th, 2024 at 9:39 pm
Devin White just signed a 1yr deal with Philly.
March 14th, 2024 at 9:50 pm
That’s another Game that might grab an early season prime time game. Playoff rematch. Eagle# vs Bucs. Lions might draw a Bigger Viewing audience. Kirk and Baker NFCS Rivals. Hardly Brady/ Manning but it could draw viewers.
One thing for sure DW will be looking forward to coming back to town. With a Chip and Incentive. Philly dropped a bundle on Huff and by time they got to White they were counting out $5’s and $10’s. He’s working though and he will give Philly a great return. Went to a legitimate contender too? Bucs took a dump in the middle of the season but managed to limp across the line. Eagles went the Full Montie from 10-1 to the crapper. That was a one off and they will bounce back .Early odds have Eagles at +1700 and Bucs at +7500 to win the Super Bowl.
Glad he landed with a decent team.
March 14th, 2024 at 10:01 pm
Let’s move on from Devin. I can torture all my eagles fans and family now about him.
March 14th, 2024 at 10:03 pm
So……is Devin White a bust?