Devin White Says Jason Licht Isn’t Being Honest
October 25th, 2025
Former Bucs linebacker Devin White.
In August, Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht stepped out of his public persona and threw a dart at his 2019 first-round draft pick.
That would be Devin White, the former No. 5 overall pick, a man who had a huge hand in the Bucs winning a Super Bowl five years ago.
Licht sounded like a sour divorced dude wishing he never asked for his ex-wife’s phone number — after good years together and a moment of unforgettable ecstasy (the Super Bowl).
“Knowing what I know now, he would have been off my board,” Licht told TheAthletic.com, referring to drafting White. “It was too much about him.”
Joe enjoyed the candor but it seemed a little wacky. White was a key cog in the Bucs’ Super Bowl run.
So White didn’t fit the “I am that man” prototype the Bucs now diligently follow when drafting a player. Ok, but the White pick was a “W” for Licht and the franchise, and that’s what matters.
Last week, White threw a personal foul on Licht for unnecessary hyperbole.
White joined the Nightcap podcast and said Licht absolutely would draft him again if he could redo 2019.
“For [Licht] to say what he said, man, we hosted a Super Bowl trophy together, so none of that matters,” White said.
“What he knows, he would [draft me] again because I helped him. On that run that we made, I feel like I was a key part of it. No cocky. If you look at the numbers and the stats, like I missed a playoff game and had the most tackles in the postseason out of any [Bucs] player.”
White went on to say the Bucs denied him the fat contract extension he thought he earned after his fourth season, and didn’t give him an explanation he could understand.
“I wasn’t trying to be selfish, but I wanted what was due,” White said. “I felt like I did everything right there from on the field to off the field, in the community, being a team captain every year. And when I asked to [get paid after four seasons], you know, I got looked at crazy and I don’t know why.”
In 2022, White’s fourth season in Tampa, things got ugly. Bucs legend Warren Sapp called him out for loafing, White got banged up and he wasn’t the same player. A year later, White played out his fifth-year option and was benched for K.J. Britt.
This year, White is enjoying a revival with the Raiders. He’s played every snap, leads the team in tackles and has 7 tackles for loss, plus 1 sack, 1 forced fumble and 1 interception.
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October 25th, 2025 at 3:51 pm
He was a key cog in that SB season, so was Antonio Brown. Didn’t work out with him either for the same reason, money. Seems since then we’ve been waiting on Dennis to be that guy, but he ain’t.
October 25th, 2025 at 3:51 pm
I don’t remember Hardy, DB 55, Ray Lewis, Patrick Willis, or Lavonte ever needing a “revival.” They were and are great from start to finish. White was great under the brightest lights. He rose to the occasion when the Bucs needed him to, but he damn sure wasn’t worthy of what he thought he “was due.”
October 25th, 2025 at 3:57 pm
He doesn’t have anything better to do than talk.
October 25th, 2025 at 4:01 pm
For White to say he wanted what was due is crazy. He was a 1st, that means 5 years. If he played the way he did the first two seasons he would have been paid many players dont get second contracts, Bucs were smaet and didnt pay him prematurely.
October 25th, 2025 at 4:01 pm
That 3 game playoff run was the ONLY time in 5 full years that White seemed to be playing to his full potential. So yes – Devin helped us win a Super Bowl – but NO – he was NOT worth the 5th overall pick by any stretch of the imagination…..
Ride little horsey – into town – Please little horsey DON’T FALL DOWN!
October 25th, 2025 at 4:03 pm
Eagles cut him and Texans let him walk so wasnt just Licht not liking what he was seeing.
October 25th, 2025 at 4:03 pm
It was, is and always will be about you, Diva. Ever since you were in college saying you were the $100 million man.
October 25th, 2025 at 4:04 pm
I love Sapp, but I can’t believe he also jumped on that ‘loafing’ nonsense from the Ravens game. That game was the first time I saw a game on the Amazon Prime Vision deal (which is much improved now – btw), and you could see the whole field on every play, and it showed you who was running the furthest on each play and at what speed, and what people seem to completely ignore, is that White was single handedly keeping Lamar in check for the entire first half of the game, running all over the place on every play. In the 3rd quarter, he was still doing it, running more on every play than anyone else on the field. Meanwhile, that was the first game Zyon started, he was a rookie, and he was terrible – the Ravens were just picking on him, throwing over and over at him, and they moved the ball at will in the 2nd half after they did so. Anyways, White is still, in the 2nd half, running all over the place on every play, and he flat out ran out of juice. The idea that anyone would say he was being lazy in that game, when he was flashing everywhere, is just ridiculous.
The fan hate on White as always moronic and came from people having no idea what they were watching. White was great as an attacking, aggressive LB, which is what Bowles had him doing early on. Then Bowles in 2021, after the entire secondary got hurt, started playing that awful super soft zone defense that has plagued the team every since, and White was told to go from being aggressive, to standing around in a zone, and White wasn’t good in that role. Simple solution however, if you have a LB who is good at blitzing and causing havoc, don’t have them stand around in zone. I give that advice for free.
Anyways, no idea why Licht bashed White – not sure why it’s personal, but I assume there is something to it since it’s out of character and really unprofessional for Licht to go around bashing former players. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind unprofessional, but it’s just odd coming from Licht since he doesn’t have a history of doing it, and the nonsense we heard about White wasn’t much more than he was mildly annoying. Also, White got chased out of Philly because he was giving David props for having a huge game vs the Eagles last year – that doesn’t seem like something a guy who was hated by his teammates in Tampa would be doing.
October 25th, 2025 at 4:04 pm
Can he play good ball? Yes of course. Will be play hard on the next play? Nobody knows!!! That was the problem. He went to other teams before Vegas. Same results as with Bucs! Now maybe he grew up? Nobody knows!!!
October 25th, 2025 at 4:07 pm
Hoisted, not hosted, smh.
October 25th, 2025 at 4:26 pm
The reason for Devin White not working out here is NOT because of money.
It’s because he was consistently playing bad football. That’s the reality. 💯
October 25th, 2025 at 4:27 pm
Just another case of a player having the physical tools but don’t the mental tools. Glad to see that he is maturing though, hopefully he can become the player the Bucs thought they drafted.
October 25th, 2025 at 4:55 pm
Devin White was injury prone. That lowered his value.
Hodad Says
“He was a key cog in that SB season, so was Antonio Brown. Didn’t work out with him either for the same reason, money.”
Antonio Brown was sent packing because of his attitude. He walked off the field into the lockerroom. Quit on his team.
October 25th, 2025 at 4:55 pm
🐴🐎🐴🐎🐴🐎🐴🐎🐎🐎🏇
Out of town!
October 25th, 2025 at 5:21 pm
My personal frustration was his inability to tackle properly – like 54 does or like 31 does. One handed shoulder pad tackles (and misses) and over running plays are tough to digest. He was not worth the $100 million he thinks he is worth. Ego. With that said, wish him well – and thanks for the contribution to the Lombardi trophy.
October 25th, 2025 at 5:39 pm
White was one of the main reason why we won the Superbowl that year. He closed out games for us . White played injured during a contract year and he couldn’t play as fast because of that injury and just like the rest of the 31 teams they used his injury against him when it was time to pay him . Right now White is better than the linebackers we have now playing next to David.
October 25th, 2025 at 5:42 pm
Then Devin White lost his dad mid season which more than likely hurt his play . But I forgot only Brady gets passes like that in 2022 after AB and Gronk left and Brady was throwing dirt balls.
October 25th, 2025 at 5:57 pm
Over money. Brown wanted more money, White didn’t want to wait to get paid. When players walkout, holdout, it’s about money, getting paid. It’s always about money.
October 25th, 2025 at 5:57 pm
ALL GM’s are dishonest. The NFL is a dirty business.
October 25th, 2025 at 6:00 pm
The question is:
Did the Raiders give him a multi-year contract?
October 25th, 2025 at 6:03 pm
He is STILL one of the worst LB’s in the NFL. 76th out of 78
October 25th, 2025 at 6:06 pm
White was an incredible force on the field when he was playing well. He’s correct to claim his performance on that run we went on. He put us on his shoulders for those playoffs. It was unbelievable.
He deserves props and no one can take that away from him.
I hope he turns it back on and has a great career.
October 25th, 2025 at 6:09 pm
White might want to talk to his current GM then about why the Bucs didn’t resign him. I’m sure John Spytek is not too happy with White’s comments about Licht and, by extension, Spytek.
October 25th, 2025 at 6:11 pm
Stays do not equate to great play. Remember Barrett Tuid’s last season? He was getting dragged five yards before the tackle was made. He turned horrible towards the end but still had stats.
Dennis the Memace has stats too. He’s probably the worst I’ve ever seen in a Buc uniform. Even Britt was not this wretched
October 25th, 2025 at 6:23 pm
We don’t win that SB without him but he’s always been a selfish me first millennial
October 25th, 2025 at 6:37 pm
Well yiu didn’t earn it and you pouted and have sucked since. He may be having a decent year with the Raiders but hes playing for a crap team. He has yjose tackles for a loss because everybody knows the other team is running the ball because they are up 28 to 0.
October 25th, 2025 at 6:44 pm
Hey Oneilbuc, we all lose our parents. I assume you have a job. Did you just tank when your parents passed? I lost mine 4 months apart. Didn’t affect my performance as an attorney. I went to work every day and continued to work as hard as I could.
Is it different for a professional athlete? I think not. In fact, I remember Favre on Monday night after his dad died.
October 25th, 2025 at 6:44 pm
As for White, he was a key cog in the Super Bowl run. After that, not so much.
October 25th, 2025 at 6:49 pm
Joe, are you serious? The reason this clown got canned was he wasn’t a team player. Once he got a SB ring, his game declined drastically. Why are we even reading about him? Only thing I liked was he liked horses. I too like them. After that, so WHAT??
October 25th, 2025 at 7:19 pm
Helped big time in the SB. He thought that was enough for a raise. Gotta keep it up and you didn’t. Not to mention you pushed too hard. But, thank you!!
October 25th, 2025 at 7:24 pm
Alvin. Every body mourns different so you can’t make a statement like that maybe for you but I’ve seen people struggle differently. Like my wife when she lost her mom so you can’t make a broud statement like that for everyone.
October 25th, 2025 at 7:27 pm
Gotta agree with Pickgrin
He had a three game stretch that was nice.. other than that , he was the second coming of Kwon.
October 25th, 2025 at 7:46 pm
After his hundred thousand dollar man statement before his draft I was really surprised we even drafted him.
Freelancing is a great way to pick up stats but lousy for the ‘team’.
What’s the Raiders record right now?
October 25th, 2025 at 8:06 pm
We won that super bowl and White thought he was done, he won and no highly competitive environment works that way. If you win its immediately great, do it again. That never ends. In a way winning the super bowl in a rookie season probably destroyed him.
October 25th, 2025 at 8:08 pm
It’s crazy Jason said that not sure bucs win the Superbowl with out drafting white. Oh well it’s over now both the team and white have moved on.
October 25th, 2025 at 8:09 pm
I have never seen a LB move as fast as Devin White did in that run up to the SB. He looked faster than anyone else on the field. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The cat was straight up amazing. Just blazing speed. I haven’t seen anyone move that fast since then. Including him. No idea what happened. He was/is a big horse guy. (Memories of reading about Olympics hero Jessie Owens racing against a horse. Humiliating and degrading) Random reference, over. Guess White was just too good to be true.
October 25th, 2025 at 8:53 pm
But at the same time we don’t have to hate every player that leaves especially if the player is trying to get paid. That’s the one thing I hate about some of y’all on here why hate or talk bad about the players that don’t work out here.
October 25th, 2025 at 8:58 pm
Always glad to see a player revive their game so happy for him. Hope he does well this year. He was an important cog in the superbowl run. Bowles knows why he did not work out–ask him as he was the one who was in the middle of it.
October 25th, 2025 at 9:23 pm
White is a head case with a delusional mental capacity. He’s definitely talented. He needs professional counseling. Needs to take it seriously and hopefully he could change his play like he did in Super Bowl 55.
October 25th, 2025 at 9:33 pm
I said it from the beginning. I would’ve drafted Josh Allen over him from the beginning & it’s looking like it because it looks like Jacksonville won that one.
October 25th, 2025 at 9:57 pm
Somehow it went to the penalty box. In an interview earlier this year. White admitted to being mentally checked out, not loving football anymore. That was the era Jason unloaded him, Philly unloaded him and the TRexans unloaded him. For hom to now act like none of that happened is simply the Diva being a Diva. That is all.
October 25th, 2025 at 10:52 pm
Oneilbuc you make some good points in the above.
October 25th, 2025 at 10:54 pm
I’m thankful for the role he played and how he helped us.
In the playoffs he stepped up big.
I never disliked the guy or his energy.
He just look like he let the business effect his game.
No thing but love for him and wish him.well when he’s not playing us.
October 25th, 2025 at 10:55 pm
To many good memories to hate in him
Doug dying Vincent dieing Mike Williams dying
Watching so many great bucs leave us makes me see things differently now
October 25th, 2025 at 11:08 pm
Like others have said, I don’t wish him any ill will. The fact that three teams, including us, moved on from him speaks volumes. He unfortunately let the business side get to him and it affected him, clearly. I wish he could have stayed here and solidified the ILB spot, but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be.
October 25th, 2025 at 11:30 pm
Love Devin. Love Licht. But Devin needs to let it go now.
October 26th, 2025 at 12:10 am
I wish we knew what LICHT meant by that, but the reality is White was great for two seasons, and then got worse and worse. A big fat contract was not due.
October 26th, 2025 at 2:02 am
White did “everything right”? Uh…He must not have seen the tape that was so bad that it might deserve an FBI investigation (in particular, the Colts game from a few years back).
October 26th, 2025 at 3:13 am
I pushed hard for us to draft him. Do I regret it? No…but I didnt know, as many have found out, the type of drama queen he would turn into….oh well, we got a SB with him, but not just him alone of course.
October 26th, 2025 at 5:26 am
Whoa! Sometimes it’s good to not go back and say things about others that hired you. This may be one of those times to let it go.
I always liked Devin. Felt bad when his dad died and the circumstances. His horse died. A lot going on in his head I presume. He helped us get a Super Bowl, and yes AB did too. Huge thank yous to both. .
Buc king – Well said. Too many others have passed. Stays on my mind too.
October 26th, 2025 at 5:40 am
Being generous. He played four great games. Then became a nut case much like AB. Uncoachable in my opinion and lazy is not the word. Uninterested would be more acurate, unless he was trying to rush the passer. He has no room at all to go after Jason. He had four years to get his act together and refused. When Warren caught him loafing? Bored? In an NFL game?
Go Bucs!
October 26th, 2025 at 8:47 am
He’s better than Dennis…. I hate to say it but a healthy Devin would’ve been key here now, he definitely was good just a little immature. Thankful for the Super Bowl he definitely deserves recognition for being a cog in that run but I’m hoping Tampa can figure out the linebacker position, and our edge position for some reason we can’t hit on anything edge or linebacker lately.
October 26th, 2025 at 11:46 am
He needs to change his tampon already…. get over it… worse than an ex girlfriend.
October 26th, 2025 at 1:39 pm
Not sure why you guys are still writing about DW years after he left. Played very well in 3 games in 5 years. Good riddance.
Nobody’s worried about him at all. Joe loves Bucs history, so this interested Joe. –Joe
October 26th, 2025 at 1:51 pm
He’s a one trick pony. Terrible in coverage, can’t get off blocks, and constantly running his way out of plays. He’s fast, so he’s good at running straight at the QB through a big gap for the splash play sack, but that’s it. He’s currently in the process of playing his way off the Raiders, and probably out of football entirely
October 26th, 2025 at 2:14 pm
He says he was just asking to be paid what he earned like he wasn’t asking for $100 million dollar contract. Mf wanted QB money after playing inconsistent as hell outside of one year.