“It Makes Me Sick!”
May 24th, 2025
“Hey Glazers, help me get a gig with Pat McAfee so I can holler every week for Lavonte David. This disrespect for him is out of hand. Jiminy Christmas!”
When Joe hears clowns in national media rattle off the game’s best linebackers but omit perhaps the guy with the biggest resume, Lavonte David, it makes Joe want to throw things.
And it seems the way David gets the back of the hand from so many nationally roasts a former Bucs coach who has had his name restored to the Bucs Ring of Honor.
David sat down with Chucky, who guided the Bucs to their first Super Bowl title, in his lair for a film breakdown and football chat recently. Barstool Sports, Chucky’s new employer, uploaded the video Friday. It’s about an hour with the two talking ball and breaking down film.
“This Joe” believes David is the most underrated player in the NFL. But Chucky thinks it’s a bit more sinister than “underrated.” Chucky referred to David constantly being overlooked or ignored as disrespect.
“You know, nobody really knows what you’ve done in football,” Chucky told David. “I’m convinced you’re the most disrespected linebacker in the league.
“How many Pro Bowls have you been to?”
David smiled and said, “Only one.” This lit up Chucky.
“That’s stupid!” Chucky barked. “That’s insane!”
Now Chucky admitted the Pro Bowl is a joke these days. But still, it recognizes the league’s best. Its players get a nice bonus, yet annually, David gets stiff-armed.
“I know they’re playing flag football, throwing frisbees at the Pro Bowl,” Chucky said. “But for you to not be in more Pro Bowls after all you’ve done?
“Yeah, it makes me sick!”
Joe wants to barf, too. It’s outrageous, and frankly unethical the way David has been shafted year after year after year. It’s almost like people have a vendetta against David, but how could they? He’s a nice guy. He’s a model citizen and always cooperative. So that can’t be it.
Joe guesses so many folks are programmed to think linebackers are like Lawrence Taylor or, in modern terms, T.J. Watt, and are always supposed to rush the passer. That’s not David’s responsibility, and Joe guesses he suffers for that.
Joe really doesn’t know what the Bucs are supposed to do. The only thing Joe can think of is if Team Glazer orders the Bucs front office or media relations department to hold a brief orientation whenever out-of-town media types show up in town, including national network talking heads as well as reporters, pointing out David’s Hall of Fame-level accomplishments.
Simple printouts clearly aren’t delivering the message.
The Bucs send out a PDF file/link with every sort of stat and information about the team and all the players each week during the season. Obviously, that hasn’t been enough.
Yeah, a brief orientation each week would be a pain in the neck for some. Might even p!ss off the reporters and backfire for David. Sadly, when there are gross injustices, it takes effort to correct them.
Since he’s now in the good graces of the NFL, slip Dave Portnoy a handful of C-notes to get him to hold one of his famous “emergency podcasts” and let him rail for five minutes about how David is taking it up the backside with disrespect.
That will get the message seen and heard.
At the very least, the Bucs need to go on a very high-profile marketing campaign for David. There ought to be billboards with David’s likeness up and down Dale Mabry Highway so out-of-town media can’t miss his image when going to games or One Buc Palace.
If you have to build a life-sized figurine for the guy and put it at the baggage claim at Tampa International Airport like Pittsburgh has in its airport for Franco Harris, then do it.
Suits at One Buc Palace ought to put their minds together to hatch a plan. Whining periodically to a reporter or a dopey national morning show here or there about how David is ignored isn’t working, or at least not working well enough. Something stronger and much bigger should be executed.
For what he has done for the Bucs franchise, David deserves the extra effort and support.
May 24th, 2025 at 8:05 am
More than anything, I would love Lavonte and Mike to win one more Super Bowl. It would put an irrefutable stamp on their first-ballot HoF careers, media market be damned!
I never thought we’d have another LB as “good” as Derrick Brooks, but Lavonte is absolutely on par.
#54 is a stalwart, thrilled he’s back again this year. The last 12+ years of
Bucs football has been better with him making tackles left and right.
Hopefully the new DBs can cover and Lavonte can blitz more and get another half dozen sacks this fall.
I love Lavonte David, a wonderful buccaneer and true stud and technician at the LB position
May 24th, 2025 at 8:19 am
How about doing something really extraordinary?!
Place Lavonte David into the Ring of Honor THIS YEAR at one of our Primetime games!
And do it with the intent if spreading the very apt message above!
That will cement who the TRUE GOAT in franchise history is.
And would garner all kinds of attention nationwide if the messaging is “all about the WHY.”
Thoughts, Joe’s?
Glazers won’t do that. And frankly, that shortchanges David when it comes to the party teams throw for the inductee and all his invited guests. David’s not going to participate in that the day before a game. …”Other Joe” here, not the writer. David has been a centerpiece on prime time games and playing for strong teams for FIVE consecutive seasons, and many thought all David needed was exposure that comes with playing for a good team. That was false. In fact, David got more recognition nationally on bad Bucs teams — All-Pro in 2013 and Pro Bowl in 2015…. It’s many years now that David has had big media types, from national game announcers to analysts including Adam Schein, Will Compton and Pete Prisco loudly singing his praises. Now throw in Gerald McCoy and Tom Brady gassing up David on a national stage. It hasn’t mattered. Team Glazer should step in to pour targeted gas on the fire.–Joe
May 24th, 2025 at 8:39 am
Victim of a small media market. Imagine if he played in the Northeast (thank god he didnt). Tampa is the 11th-largest TV media market. That’s hardly small. Bigger than Detroit, Cleveland, Phoenix, Seattle, Minneapolis, Miami, etc.–Joe
25 tackles away from 4th ALL TIME! When he retires there will be a huge hole in the middle of the defense. We were blessed to have almost 30 years of excellence at the position with Derrick and David. I thought we had the next guy with Devon but obviously that didnt work out. I was hoping the bucs would have drafted a LB to play with David this year to maybe find the next guy.
May 24th, 2025 at 8:47 am
Casuals, and that includes a huge % of soft-handed “media”, think all that matters for a LB is sacks.
Thick-necked football vets know that us bullspit, but dors not stop the soft-hands brigade who look at just one stat.
It was not until Buc followers saw the LB disaster that is Britt to understand how David’s greatness has been taken for granted over the years.
I, fir one, will miss David as much as I missed Mr. Derrick Brooks when he was gone. Greatness at any position does not come around that often…
May 24th, 2025 at 8:51 am
There are many reasons David has been disrespected. What frustrates me most is that the so called experts consistently overlook the most important stat for LB’s. That stat is TACKLES. The beginning of any evaluation on a LB should be tackles.
May 24th, 2025 at 8:59 am
@SteveK – Right there with ya, one more SB for Mike and LVD. Hard to overlook the Bucs then.
May 24th, 2025 at 9:06 am
Tampa Bay is not a small TV market, it is actually the 11th largest. I would think getting any Buc that does ANY interview to sing his praises loud and proud would not hurt.
May 24th, 2025 at 9:14 am
There’s an outstanding article titled ‘Go Ahead, Name Best MLB/ILB in history’ written by Frank Cooney (Jul 17, 2024) that ties in with this & totally blew me away. Apparently the HOF lists 18 ILB/MLBs as having been elected, at what the author calls ‘this disappearing position’. And he makes a good argument why we’ve only elected 5 MLB/ILB stars this century (Brian Urlacher, Zack Thomas, Patrick Willis, Junior Seau & Ray Lewis). Those who’ve made it have been almost exclusively MLBs.
Included in that article BTW is an outstanding video showing highlights of Dick Butkis’ play. It really is a Muse-See. I loved what Deacon Jones had to say about Butkis: ‘Dick was an animal. I called him a maniac. A stone maniac. He was a well-conditioned animal, and every time he hit you, he tried to put you in the cemetery, not the hospital’. It’s an unbelievable video of days gone by. Worth the view & read.
May 24th, 2025 at 9:15 am
It seems like if you’re not getting sacks and doing your “Hey look at me!!” dance afterwards, you might as well be invisible.
May 24th, 2025 at 9:15 am
Muse-See? Nah, Must-See.
May 24th, 2025 at 9:18 am
And the entire Tampa Bay TV market may be 11th, but Tampa itself is 49th in population. People don’t want to hear about “metro areas.”
May 24th, 2025 at 9:20 am
I understand that “sacks” from outside linebackers sometimes get him overlooked. But it’s criminal how much we don’t focus enough on his “tackles for loss”, which in all reality is EXACTLY THE SAME as a sack. A play that results in a negative yardage and a lost down. The only difference is that it’s typically a RB/Skill position player taking the tackle as opposed to the QB. By seasons end, David will be #4 ALL TIME in TFLS. And NO OTHER active player has ore in their career. When you couple that with all of his Sacks, Forced Fumbles (which he’s also tops in), there is no way he isn’t a HOFer.
May 24th, 2025 at 9:28 am
Todd is 100% right. Put Lavonte in the RoH while an active player. Retire his number when he hangs em up for good. Build the man a statue. People call Jerry West “The Logo.” That’s Lavonte for us.
May 24th, 2025 at 9:29 am
@DR: an invisible MLB that was every bit as bad-ass as Butkus was Tommy Nobis, the Falcons first ever draft pick.
Nobis was so nasty even his own family thought he was a jerk. CTE is now thought to be his ultimate downfall because he wore one of those old Riddell suspension helmets with the rubber donut in the suspension crown. I suspect he had a head full if bees in every game.
I grew up with the Falcons and saw every game Nobis played, a spectacular players on horrible, terrible, no-account, no-talent teams.
Tommy Nobis’ bust should be in Canton.
Great player playing in a place that nobody cared.
May 24th, 2025 at 9:30 am
WPBF makes a great point about TFL = Sack.
May 24th, 2025 at 9:32 am
Standing ovation for “This Joe.” On the head of the nail.
May 24th, 2025 at 9:37 am
OLB’s in a 3-4 Defense, need to be voted on as EDGE rushers, not included with the middle LB’s in a 3-4 or all LB’s in 4-3 defenses.
That is stupid. And definitely has robbed LVD of multiple Probowl’s.
May 24th, 2025 at 9:38 am
Joe — does it impact David that he’s an ILB in the 3-4 now but has been an OLB so much in a 4-3 that NFL.com and others all list him that way? I ask because the Hall of Fame Monitor list I often access on PFR has separate charts.
At OLB, David has more assists and more combined tackles than anyone not in the HOF. Only Brooks and Seau have more. He’s third on TFL list and will soon be in second ahead of Von Miller I would think. He needs two PDs to reach top five. Nobody has done better than starting 198 of 198 games. BUT, it has always tracked Pro Bowls, so it at least used to be a factor for HOF consideration.
Please tell me the HOF doesn’t weight “Pro Bowls” as a criteria these days, because it hasn’t been a real competition in like forever.
May 24th, 2025 at 9:47 am
@D.R. and Cobra
Wow you guys selected two incredible LB’s. Ray Lewis might be in their class but I didn’t see as much of him.
Butkus may have been the scariest player I’ve ever watched. He played football like a Cyborg, I think of that incredible scene opening one of the Terminators.
Arnold walks in and calmly says, “I need your clothes, your boots, and your motorcyle.” The only difference is Butkus didn’t ask…he TOOK and did it with relish and passion.
And yeah Tommy Nobis was also awesome. I remember reading where the writer gave him credit for using his head as a weapon. Nobis “reportedly” said his goal when tackling was to put the crown of his helmet right between the numbers and drive it home! Yeah he probably had severe CTE after all that hitting.
May 24th, 2025 at 9:48 am
HOF
May 24th, 2025 at 10:14 am
StPete & Cobraboy … MLBs like Butkus & Nobis were just so visible that there was no way the media could ignore them. But how do compare someone like Butkus to LVD?
Butkus played 9 seasons, 119 games total. Couldn’t find his total number of tackles, but he had 22 INTs, 27 FRs & 11 sacks total. But in those 9 years, he won about every award that could be won.
LVD in comparison has played 198 games thus far, and will top 200 this season (approaching double the number of games that Dick Butkus played). He’s got 13 INTs, 19 FRs & 39 sacks thus far. And oh ya, over 1600 tackles (over 1100 solo). Relatively few awards however, in comparison to MLBs like Butkus & Lewis.
Tough comparisons.
May 24th, 2025 at 10:18 am
I wonder how many Pro Bowls LVD would have if fan voting was eliminated? I think that’s (fan voting) the biggest problem but I’d like to know for sure.
May 24th, 2025 at 10:26 am
It’s the Bucs that are being disrespected, not David. In their minds, Tampa Bay hasn’t paid enough dues yet for all of years of bad football. Tom Brady was a blip in time to them. It’s going to take another Super Bowl to get them to change their attitudes.
May 24th, 2025 at 10:48 am
This will help. Gruden’s a good screamer. People will listen.
May 24th, 2025 at 10:50 am
Honestly think he’s hurt by:
Total Defense statistics/annual rankings.
Defense has some good years then awful years. No consistency.
Losing record in prime time.
Lack of good LB play alongside.
Lack of personality on the defensive side of the ball.
It’s a team sport.
Sapp, Brooks, Lynch, Barber and Rice (who should be HoFer) benefited from playing together for years. Synergy.
David hasn’t had that blend of consistency, personality and excellence and it’s a shame.
May 24th, 2025 at 10:51 am
Okay Joe and Glazers. If we want to get Lavonte the needed attention, here how!
Lavonte is ‘The Captain’ of this team. Let’s have Lavonte lead the team out for every game this season. Give him a 2 second lead before the rest of the team follows. There will all type of attention gained from his entrance and if it is a nationally broadcasted game, it will be overwhelming. All the talking heads will have to give an explanation as to why he is leading the team out. After the first couple of entrances, stats, conversation and comparisons will being to be evaluated. That is all we can ask for. The rest should be a piece of cake. Go Lavonte Go, All-Pro, ROH, HOF. Go Bucs Go. It has been while, but I will see you at Raymond James this year. I will remember Lavonte David as one of my favorite Bucs.
Leroy Selman
Doug Williams
Warrick Dunn
Mike Alstott
John Lynch
Cadillac Williams
Doug Martin
Ronde Barber
Derrick Brooks
Warren Sapp
Jason Pierre-Paul
Simeon Rice
Mike Evans
Chris Godwin
Vita Vea
Shaquil Barrett
Lavonte David
May 24th, 2025 at 11:03 am
@DR: 60’s NFL and 2010+’s NFL are two completely different games.
I don’t think one can compare, which is one reason the HoF has an old school category.
Players today are superior in every way…but maybe pure physical nastiness & toughness.
Normal tough and onery in the 60’s get personal foul penalties and game rejections today.
Even John Lynch would not garner HoF attention in today’s game.
May 24th, 2025 at 11:23 am
I’m so glad you put that link up, Joes. What a great interview! It really brought out LVD’s personality. GO BUCS!
May 24th, 2025 at 12:02 pm
How is a city 49th in population, but 11th in TV market? That doesn’t math.
I mean are you basing that on the population just inside the city limits?
May 24th, 2025 at 12:20 pm
Those are two different things. You are thinking of a city proper, the city limits. A “market” is the reach of the TV signal when TV folks refer to “markets.”
For example, if a buyer wants to buy commercial time, he/she wants to know potentially if everyone is watching, how many pairs of eyeballs will see that commercial. So a market is more or less a 60-mile radius of where the TV transmitter is located.
Radio market is a bit less than that. (Tampa radio market does not include Sarasota County.)
–
How is the market bigger than the city? Tampa is surrounded by many crowded suburbs, that’s how. Pinellas County (St. Petersburg/Clearwater, etc.) is the most densely populated county in Florida.
Periodically, you will hear Jacksonville referenced as the largest city in Florida. It is not — by population. But it is by land mass (acreage).