“I Loafed A Little Bit And I Didn’t Like What I Saw”
May 10th, 2026
Yeah, it got ugly at times last season.
Todd Bowles wouldn’t admit it, but the film didn’t lie.
Lavonte David was struggling in what turned out to be his final season. An all-year knee problem helped turn the Buccaneers legend into a player he no longer wanted to watch.
In David’s most candid talk to date about his March retirement decision, he admitted he was no longer Lavonte David.
“There was a couple times in that season, man, I loafed a little bit and I didn’t like what I saw on film,” David told the The Set With T. Stead podcast. “And it was one of those things like, ‘Nah, I ain’t going to go out like this, bro.”
David added that he entered the 2026 offseason without a firm training plan and realized he no longer had the motivation to be the player he expected to be.
David and others on the Bucs often stress the importance of leadership and how David was a great leader. Perhaps David was a great leader. However, perhaps David’s leadership impact slipped last season as Bucs players saw him struggle.
Joe wonders whether David addressed his loafs with teammates and how he did it, and whether he was called out by coaches in a group setting or was given a pass.
May 10th, 2026 at 5:10 pm
He was the leader of that defense. We saw the ripple effect in the month of December. The you add the infamous scheme and the rest is history. SMH
May 10th, 2026 at 5:11 pm
The team was loaded with loafers last season
And it wasn’t limited to the defense
The offense had their fair share of loafers
They were even loafing on special teams
They were basically a team full of loafers
May 10th, 2026 at 5:24 pm
He wasn’t the only one. Makes the decision to retain Bowles even more of a head scratcher. We had to go out, and get a bunch of self motivated players, because Bowles can’t motivate anyone. I know I tune him out whenever he talks to the media. Hey, they all got their bag, Zyon, that’s all that matters.
May 10th, 2026 at 5:25 pm
“Joe wonders whether David addressed his loafs with teammates and how he did it, and whether he was called out by coaches in a group setting or was given a pass.“
At the very least in the ILB room that first meeting after the most recent game.
May 10th, 2026 at 5:26 pm
Boy this article Joe is like drinking turpentine and peeing on a brush fire.Its gonna bring out the best fans of all time! UGH! Let the negativity begin!
May 10th, 2026 at 5:29 pm
The whole defense and special teams was a loaf. Detroit exposed the team.They knew immediately after the loss the team didn’t have enough horsepower to hoist a trophy. Saun McVay and Rams exploited it causing Todd and the Bucs to call for mercy down three scores. The season was over and the loafing began, including extra days off of practice. The DC who allowed it loafed to.
May 10th, 2026 at 5:32 pm
Bowles is a championship caliber HC. Gets the players ready to win every game.
If not for all the sub par players on the roster, we’d have four straight SB titles.
It’s just too bad the GM can’t seem to find quality players on offense or defense.
One thing I do know above all else. Nothing is Todd’s fault. Ever.
May 10th, 2026 at 5:36 pm
Todd lost the room and he knows it! If he loses them this time, adios!!!
May 10th, 2026 at 5:38 pm
We had 6 Team Captains in 2025
Baker Mayfield
Mike Evans
Vita Vea
Antoine Winfield Jr
Lavonte David
Tristan Wirfs
Those 6 players were not leaders in 2025
They were unavailable, loafing, or just plain sucked
They didn’t lead by example
And that’s what cause the rest of the team to loaf
May 10th, 2026 at 5:45 pm
sadly he still outefforted everyone significantly
May 10th, 2026 at 5:51 pm
The good thing is, we drafted some players with leadership skills
May 10th, 2026 at 5:55 pm
We signed some guys with leadership skills in Free Agency
And we drafted some players with leadership skills
We signed tough guys in Free Agency
We drafted tough guys
It’s good to say, we are a much tougher team
May 10th, 2026 at 5:56 pm
If only the players could match the leadership skills of Todd Bowles.
The absolute best HC in Bucs history hands down. He makes Chucky and Bruce look like amateurs.
Luckily the Glazers were smart enough to retain his services before another team could steal him away. Not once, but twice. The extension was pure gold.
A culture of absolute perfection.
May 10th, 2026 at 5:56 pm
On the previous article I said I’d like to see one more ride from David, play with Trotter and Anzalone but nevermind, he’s done.
Didn’t he basically admit he didn’t train and come to camp like he should have last season? Then he fought through the knee and is now saying he was loafing a bit.
Crazy. I still believe that if he was motivated, trained hard and got himself in great shape after having the knee surgery … and put away the Cap N Crunch… he could be an effective player out there. But he doesn’t want it and sounds like a bunch of guys didn’t want it last year.
Hopefully Danny and Zac can breathe new life into some guys.
May 10th, 2026 at 5:59 pm
What does that make you? Wally?
Lolligagers!
I give 54 a pass with that hurt knee and his legacy of giving his all 110% of the time. The others? Goodbye. McCullum better find some spark or find the bench. We need another starting CB.
May 10th, 2026 at 5:59 pm
If 54 saw himself loafing, everyone else did too. And im sure with his status he wasnt called out as much? So maybe the younger guys saw him getting away with some stuff and they did the same. Idk just me speculating as to what went wrong.
Also could be totally wrong lol.
May 10th, 2026 at 6:01 pm
Also want it to be known i absolutely love 54. One of my favorite players of all time
May 10th, 2026 at 6:10 pm
I don’t think one less bit of Lavonte. Now, if we can put the past where it belongs and get to the serious business at hand? Like maybe talk about an available cornerback or 2 floating around out there?
May 10th, 2026 at 6:26 pm
He stunk and likewise our Putrid Pass Defense that couldn’t get off the field when needed. He was shot .
May 10th, 2026 at 6:44 pm
As far as our 6 captains are concerned, Evans and Wirfs were unavailable at times due to injury, but no one can say they ever loafed or just plain sucked. Lavonte just got old and could not overcome a bum knee. Yet he was available. As far as loafing is concerned, everyone here should know by now that word is not in his vocabulary, whether he said it or not. Baker got pummeled on a weekly basis yet remained available all year and played his heart out. When you’re beaten to a pulp and hence don’t play at your best, that is not plain old sucking at your job. There was a reason for the drop off in play. As far as Vita and Winfield are concerned, I can’t believe they would ever loaf, they were always available as far as I remember and whether their play was subpar, I just don’t know for sure.
May 10th, 2026 at 6:44 pm
At least he admits to it. Can’t say that about the HC and a bunch of other players from last year.
May 10th, 2026 at 6:46 pm
but somehow licht replaces players 1 year earlier then need be
May 10th, 2026 at 6:50 pm
Hope he hangs around as a consultant. Maybe Bain will relight the fire in him.
May 10th, 2026 at 6:52 pm
Baking with Robinson;
That scheme looked pretty good in the superbowl. Top NFL offense got zero Tds. It’s all about personnel.
May 10th, 2026 at 6:56 pm
Charlie don’t surf!
May 10th, 2026 at 7:30 pm
I guarantee his teammates saw the loaf film, and some said to themselves “if David can loaf, so can I.”
That s#!t needs to change RIGHT NOW.
May 10th, 2026 at 7:38 pm
Two loafers in that picture.
May 10th, 2026 at 8:16 pm
I’m deeply confounded. Leaderless. Loafers. Players giving up on their teammates and coaches. What a clusteryouknowwhat. And we’re still the solid favorites in our division? What? Lost 2 “hall of famers”. Completely gutted our Defense? There has to be some X-factor, something beneath the surface going on, that could be instilling any confidence at all in this ragtag group. Yeah, it’s a real head-scratcher. For a dummy, that is.
May 10th, 2026 at 8:39 pm
Joe … ‘Perhaps David’s leadership impact slipped last season as Bucs players saw him struggle’.
For all intents and purposes, the Bucs really played 2 half-seasons last year. They played some pretty decent ball in going 6-2 in the first half-season, but sh1t the bed in going 2-7 in the second half-season. It’s like someone turned off the lights after the BYE week.
Lavonte played all 17 games; he missed 16 def snaps in those first 8 games, and only 5 def snaps in those last 9 games. IOW LVD gutted it out all season, especially in the 2nd half when he was surely hurting more. I don’t think it was HIS leadership impact that slipped.
If we’re focusing on just leadership impact, I’d say that Mike Evans getting hurt in Game 7 and not coming back until Game 14 has a much bigger impact. In the first 7 games that ME13 played in, the Bucs went 5-2 (and one of our 2 losses was the game against Detroit that he got hurt in (Mike only got 14 off snaps in that game before he got hurt). He missed 6 games, and Bucs went 2-4 in those games without ME13. The we went 1-3 in the last 4 games that he came back for.
Tend to think that losing Evans early in Game 7 had a greater leadership impact than anything else. But I really doubt that it was just one thing that turned the tide so quickly. Bucs had so many injuries going on at the same time that it was probably the combination of all that which soured the season.
May 10th, 2026 at 8:47 pm
Lakeland: Too bad the Bucs didn’t have someone to oversee the team and make sure players were held accountable…You know, kind of like a head coach.
May 10th, 2026 at 9:13 pm
The team was filled with loafers because they could get away with it. Look at Zyon, Kindell Vildor, Logan Hall and others. There was no accountability.
May 10th, 2026 at 9:24 pm
I highly highly doubt he was loafing – I think he was just physically not able to do what he’s always been able to do and is down on himself for not being able to make the same plays he always made, and doesn’t want to use that as an excuse. But there’s no way David was loafing and taking plays off.
Also David singlehandedly beating the Super Bow champs with his clutch INT, that’s what HOF’ers do!
May 10th, 2026 at 9:40 pm
I agree with the people that said Todd Bowles didn’t do a good job of coaching
He should have benched Baker Mayfield and Bucky Irving
That was his worst coaching mistake, not benching Baker and Bucky
He should have benched Sirvocea Dennis
And rested Lavonte David more
He should’ve benched Zyon McCollum
Hassan Reddick should’ve been benched
You have to be firm with these players
You have to let them know who is boss
May 10th, 2026 at 9:44 pm
“You lollygag your way onto the field. You lollygag in and out of the huddle. You know what that makes you?”
May 10th, 2026 at 9:46 pm
They didn’t draft Reuben Bain to audition. They drafted him to reset the standard.
But coaching can only do so much. At the end of the day you gotta look yourself in the mirror. Hopefully these young men push the veterans to either schit or get off the pot.
May 10th, 2026 at 9:56 pm
Lakeland Says:
May 10th, 2026 at 9:40 pm
I agree with the people that said Todd Bowles didn’t do a good job of coaching
He should have benched Baker Mayfield and Bucky Irving
—————
I’m not Baker Boi, but who else was going to play? By cutting Trask, they hitched themselves to Teddy ‘Hospital Ball’ Bridgewater, who had absolutely nothing left in the tank. No idea if Trask could have done OK or not (in preseason he was always better in games than he was in practices), but at least there was a chance that he might have been able to fill in without the team tanking. With Bridgewater, you were basically surrendering the game. At the same time, Baker was playing so poorly, in the end, it probably would have been better to sit him for a few games to see if he’d have played better or not on return.
As for Bucky, there was zero reason to bench him. I saw nothing on tape that made me worried about him at all – he was just the victim of awful predictable play calling and very bad interior blocking. Basically Grizzard was having him run almost inclusive between the tackles, and on predictable down and distances. He was giving Tucker the easy outside runs, and White was used more in a variety of roles so you couldn’t sit on the calls as much. But watching ALL22 what I saw was Bucky being handed the ball with absolutely nowhere to run, and making some huge plays just to get a yard or two. Reminded me of Doug Martin in his ‘down’ years where he’d break 5 tackles just to get 2 yards, and then people would say he sucked. Bucky is a stud runner, and if they use him how he was used in 2024, he’ll put up those same numbers again.
May 10th, 2026 at 10:01 pm
I’m an old man and not “hip” to todays slang…but is it possible Lavante used the word “loafing” as a figure of speack and meant slowing down? That he was trying, but old age caught up with him?
Because I just cannot see Lavante David being lazy while playing football.
Also, what did he mean by saying “Nah, I ain’t going to go out like this,…”?
Because he DID go out like that. Which makes me wonder…might he sart working out the come back in the second half of the season…if injuries cause a nèd?
As far as I know, he has not turn in the retirement paperwork.
May 10th, 2026 at 10:01 pm
Absent any coaching competence, what happened in 2025 will happen again only worse.
Nice job Jason.
2-7
4th and 14
Mike Evans
May 10th, 2026 at 10:04 pm
The defense needed at least 4 – 5 new players. Let’s see what happens this coming year. That said, while Bowles is HC and DC, I really don’t see Bucs ever doing anything special.
May 10th, 2026 at 10:04 pm
Todd Bowles should have been more forceful
I know he went off after the loss to the Falcons
And that didn’t solve anything, they played worst the following week
Players should have been cut after the Falcons game
May 10th, 2026 at 10:14 pm
But it’s all good now
We won’t make the same mistake this season
May 10th, 2026 at 10:18 pm
Making the same mistakes over and over is a staple of the Bowles Regression Coaching program. Less so under Arians than now but it was still an issue even with BA. How the clown still has a job is a mystery suitable for talk radio debate.
May 10th, 2026 at 10:31 pm
The focal point in the picture and the title match
May 10th, 2026 at 10:32 pm
3:28
You’re exactly right
Because Bruce Arians would have benched Baker Mayfield
He would have went with Teddy Bridgewater
And Bruce would have benched other players
Todd Bowles was too easy with the players
May 10th, 2026 at 11:35 pm
I guess BA’s “ consulting “ never made it past the club lounge.
May 10th, 2026 at 11:47 pm
[Can’t let that go through Rod, sorry, even though your punch line spelled it out. Not protecting anyone but am protecting Joe. — Joe]
May 11th, 2026 at 2:24 am
I hope he didn’t loaf on 3rd and 28 and 4th and 14. If he did, that would have fractured the team. He’s gone now, so we move on…
May 11th, 2026 at 5:04 am
Late to the party, but it takes a real man to admit he was slacking off. I’ll have even more respect for him than I already have. Let’s hope the Gm and HC have a solution to the problem. The Bucs need a culture change to improve.
May 11th, 2026 at 5:56 am
loafing is when you go to outback steakhouse and your server brings you the little warm brown loaf of bread and butter, to your table…
and you wolf the whole thing down and ask the server to bring another one…and another one…that is loafing my friend
May 11th, 2026 at 7:38 am
We hating on LvD for being honest and battling through a knee injury? Guy is a Bucs Legend. Juat father time passed him, just like when we saw the decline of Derrick Brooks his last season. David still had some great games and key plays, vs Seattle the inferception that sealed the win. Vs Carolina the last week and the sack vs San Fran that stopped them from a scoring drive.
What did AWJ do last year? How about Vea? Diaby? The corners? I cant recall any game changing plays from these guys
May 11th, 2026 at 7:39 am
We hating on LvD for being honest and battling through a knee injury? Guy is a Bucs Legend. Juat father time passed him, just like when we saw the decline of Derrick Brooks his last season. David still had some great games and key plays, vs Seattle the inferception that sealed the win. Vs Carolina the last week and the sack vs San Fran that stopped them from a scoring drive.
What did AWJ do last year? How about Vea? Diaby? The corners? I cant recall any game changing plays from these guys.
May 11th, 2026 at 8:16 am
Lol
May 11th, 2026 at 11:24 am
Yep. I saw it during LOTS of plays last season. Especially, down the stretch throughout the team’s late season collapse. It was hard for me to see. So, you KNOW it had to be much harder for HIM. His “want to” was gone. There were plays, that he just completely gave up on, and didn’t even try! Even, when down around the goal-line. I knew then, that it was TIME. He was a shell of his former self.
May 11th, 2026 at 11:27 am
I thought this article was going to be about Winfield Junior, judging by the picture LoL. It very well could’ve been. He really shortchanged us last season. There were just soooo many plays where he was caught ‘flat-footed’ and was totally out of position. HORRIBLE angles and ALL, because of it.
May 11th, 2026 at 3:14 pm
Rod Munch Says:
May 10th, 2026 at 11:47 pm
[Can’t let that go through Rod, sorry, even though your punch line spelled it out. Not protecting anyone but am protecting Joe. — Joe]
——–
Fair enough, was just meant for comedy anyways.