Teammates Called Out Lavonte David For Loafing
May 22nd, 2026
Joe already wrote about Lavonte David confessing to loafing on the field last season.
But the story runs deeper.
David made his intial confession to Terron Armstead. This week, he elaborated on The Rush With Maxx Crosby.
Talking about why he retired, David got into not wanting to become something he wasn’t.
“It was a point in [last] season, like, I got called out by a couple of my teammates for loafing,” David said.
Was he really loafing? David was asked. Or was he just trying and incapable? David came clean.
“I loafed. I take full accountability for that,” David said. “And like, for them to call me out on that, like for me being the veteran on the team and they called me out? I’m like, ‘No, Lavonte, that ain’t you, bro.’ And that kind of like stuck with me. Like, ‘I’m trippin’. I gotta lock back in.'”
Joe’s not trying to urinate upon David’s great career, but him loafing and getting called out by teammates is a telling nugget as it relates to last season’s collapse. David was the leader of the defense, a captain of the team.
If a guy players look to is loafing, that’s a usually a recipe for trouble.
David noted he has “trauma” from early NFL coaches riding him for maximum effort at all times (see Commander Greg Schiano) so he’s extra sensitive about his own effort.
Still a lot left to unpack from last season’s collapse.
May 22nd, 2026 at 5:17 pm
This one hurts!
May 22nd, 2026 at 5:21 pm
He also confessed last season and in his words to not being mentally locked in for the season yet….that was just a week out from the 1st game of the season
Sometimes we just miss the writing on the wall
FN love Lavonte though and this post-retirement version is awesome and candid and refreshing as all get out to hear!
May 22nd, 2026 at 5:31 pm
Put someone in a Honda civic ( Todd’s defense ) and ask them to race against lambos ( every offense in the league when playing Todd’s defense ) eventually you realize there isn’t really a reason to push yourself hard anymore
May 22nd, 2026 at 5:32 pm
Losing is contagious Winning is contagious! After the 6,-2 start when they beat the best They were the best! Injuries happened the WHOLE TEAM fell apart, they are human just like the fans! The wheels just came off! Its happened to everyone person on this forum! Yeah they make alot of money,so why didn’t you play people!
May 22nd, 2026 at 5:34 pm
Wow. Im at a loss for words.
May 22nd, 2026 at 5:34 pm
Half a loaf is still better than SVD.
May 22nd, 2026 at 5:37 pm
“I got called out by a couple of my teammates for loafing,” This explains a lot to me unfortunately. If LVD was loafing, (by his own admission) AND his teammates called him out for loafing (they did) then I am no longer surprised by the defense quitting. If the heartbeat of the D quit – the dude with the C on his chest quit – then why wouldn’t the rest of them quit. That’s called losing the locker room Coach Bowles.
May 22nd, 2026 at 5:38 pm
James Yarcho called him out very early in the season, seems he was onto something.
May 22nd, 2026 at 5:40 pm
“I loafed. I take full accountability for that,” David said.
^^^^^^
Sorry Lavonte but that statement alone may have sunk your HOF chances.
After 2024 Lavonte you talked of retiring and starting a ministry. That would have been a much more noble endeavor for you to undertake. It appears it 2025 was all about the $$$$ and not about ” I am that man.”
May 22nd, 2026 at 5:42 pm
At least Lavonte is honest about this. Maybe some of that honest self-reflection will rub off on Zyon.
May 22nd, 2026 at 5:45 pm
LtT Dan maybe change to Capt.Obvious! Im sure Bowles knows how to change a grown man!
May 22nd, 2026 at 5:54 pm
No wonder he was such a huge supporter of Bowles.
Todd doesn’t punish loafers on his defense. He meets it with a reward.
Just sit back, relax, and eat enough Kit Kats to kill a horse.
We can blame everything on injuries and fire every coach except for the one in charge of the team and defense.
That’s how you get contract extensions!!!!
May 22nd, 2026 at 5:55 pm
He still has trauma from NFL coaches doing their job. That just sounds ridiculous.
May 22nd, 2026 at 5:57 pm
So how many more of the team were bored and Loafing? Anyone else man enough to admit it? I seriously doubt anyone will.
May 22nd, 2026 at 6:09 pm
The final question that needs to be asked is whether the knee that needed drained constantly contributed to him loafing or not being locked in. If it didn’t, he should have retired prior to last season. Yikes. I can picture that causing a mess in the locker room!
May 22nd, 2026 at 6:12 pm
Wow!
This is heartbreaking. 🙁
Oh well. At least he got out in front of it on his own terms. If teammates were calling him out, it would have leaked out eventually and taken on a narrative of its own. Now, at least, LaVonte may be able to shape or frame the conversation about it somewhat.
@Sal Volatile… it reallly hurts to read what you wrote, especially the part about the HOF. I hate to do it, but I have to agree. *Sigh*
As Joe would say, “hope is never a good strategy”.
Still, I suppose we can hope this blows over real fast and when it comes time for the HOF to vote, no one even remembers it.
May 22nd, 2026 at 6:30 pm
Like everything else I blame Bowles.
Perhaps he didn’t want to play for the ***clown.
5-12 is coming folks.
May 22nd, 2026 at 6:30 pm
No surprise that our veterans were not mentoring the youth the right way. It showed. Nice to clean house of these loafers.
May 22nd, 2026 at 6:32 pm
Or what Lt Dan said….same thing.
May 22nd, 2026 at 6:36 pm
Lavonte should quit while he’s still ahead and drop the constant interviews.
May 22nd, 2026 at 6:41 pm
Maybe because he was often in a lot of pain
May 22nd, 2026 at 6:47 pm
Wow. Seriously?
May 22nd, 2026 at 6:51 pm
That took some guts. Pain can certainly turn a guy into a coward. Owning up to loafing with the HOF at stake takes a big man. I’m sure the knee caused it, but he’s putting on himself…
There are only a few who could have called him out. Tykee and Evans maybe? The rest of them were either playing so bad or loafing themselves. Bowles knew. Knew he lost the team too.
May 22nd, 2026 at 6:54 pm
I’m glad he came forward and got it off his chest. That sort of guilt can eat you up.
May 22nd, 2026 at 7:12 pm
I have a feeling Bowles is going to ruin these rookies by and what talent is left on this team.
May 22nd, 2026 at 7:24 pm
Sometimes, when I’m at work I realize “hey bruh, you’re phoning it in, get right”.
If a coworker noticed before I did and called me out on it I would SERIOUSLY chin check myself.
But this explains why nobody “got themselves right” when Lavonte showed his ass in the locker room.
I’m very disappointed to read this.
May 22nd, 2026 at 7:36 pm
Mike Evans ” when I saw our D leader slacking and Coach Bowles not cutting him, I knew it was time to abandon the sinking Pirate ship. Evans speaking to Dianna Russini on ‘ She’s back ‘ podcast on KTLA ( Los Angeles ).
May 22nd, 2026 at 7:37 pm
Why didn’t the coaches call him out for loafing??? The problem is that the coaches aren’t good leaders and role models themselves.
May 22nd, 2026 at 7:44 pm
I do not think LVD’s chances for the Hall of Fame depended on the 2025 season. Lots of great players tailed off badly at the end of their careers. I am thinking of 2007-8 Derrick Brooks, and the way the Bucs’ defense collapsed the day Monte Kiffin anounced his retirement. None of the Hall of Fame voters held that collapse against the Don. Heck, wasn’t it obvious that LVD only came back for ’25 to chase one last ring? And, if we had’nt had two gaping holes at OG by December, I think we could have gotten pretty close.
May 22nd, 2026 at 7:46 pm
Unless a pro athlete needs his coach’s help cashing his paychecks, he better not need their help earning them.
May 22nd, 2026 at 8:02 pm
I’m wondering who exactly on the defense called him out? Maybe YaYa, Vea or Tykee are the only ones I think
Yaya said he felt alone some games
May 22nd, 2026 at 8:20 pm
I bet there are countless, if not all, professional football players that have, at one point or another in their careers, done exactly what Lavonte admits to doing. We don’t hear it because most players wouldn’t have the huevos to admit it. Admitting fear or failures of character is a hard thing to do but these failures happen all the time in all areas of life. We put certain of these football players like Lavonte on a pedestal and shower them with platitudes of greatness that are impossible for them to live up to. Lavonte is such a humble stand up guy. This is just more proof. If he hadn’t said these things, nobody would have known anything. Even if there were murmurs, nobody would have believed it. He played 99.999999% of his career with his hair on fire. He finally took his foot off the gas at the very end. That just proves he’s human after all.
May 22nd, 2026 at 8:22 pm
OLDSCHOOL1976 … ‘Yaya said he felt alone some games’.
This is a contract year for YaYa, plus at least 9 other players on Bucs’ defense. It’s critical that our defense re-establish its ‘passion’ and improve significantly over last season’s dismal performance. Top-10 should be the goal.
May 22nd, 2026 at 8:39 pm
I think most of you are very young. But does anyone remembers that Tennessee Ready article Joe wrote?
There Captain David explained how we (the defense) got deflated after the first score by Tennessee in the first quarter. Mind you this was the first game of the season!!!! Since then to me he is in the realm of McCoy. Good players not great. They carry the wrong attitude to be a respected NFL players. They really have no dawg on them.
Don’t get mad at this. Search the JBF archives for Tennessee Ready article and read it!!!!
May 22nd, 2026 at 8:51 pm
Much like Evans, as a Buc fan I will be forever grateful to the careers they gave the Bucs and how great they were in the community.
But LVD looked done 2 years ago. Last year it was painfully obvious.
Evans still made some plays and at times looked great. At other times he looked winded, tired and hobbled.
It was time to move forward with the younger guys and start drafted for the future.
May 22nd, 2026 at 9:09 pm
You had a leader who just didn’t have his head in the game anymore and another who was looking for greener grass yeah joe this team did get better when Mike and David left.
May 22nd, 2026 at 9:13 pm
Woof.
Always love Lavonte and appreciate his honesty but he should say less.
I felt if his knee was right he could keep going. I didn’t lock in on David reps last season, he’s one of those guys you take for granted although I saw him missing some tackles that didn’t seem right.
He’s clearly cooked.
There are so many reasons why Evans left. The list is pretty clear now.
-Team leader on D is loafing, D can’t stop anything, looked to have quit on the coach.
-Crowded WR room, not getting the heavy target share he wants for team reasons and personal ones.
-5th OC in 5 years
-Baker playing like crap and throwing picks (yeah I said it).
May 22nd, 2026 at 9:19 pm
Stpetematt Says:
May 22nd, 2026 at 6:09 pm
The final question that needs to be asked is whether the knee that needed drained constantly contributed to him loafing or not being locked in. If it didn’t, he should have retired prior to last season. Yikes. I can picture that causing a mess in the locker room!
————————————————-
When I read about the knee draining it really made me wonder how much Lavonte pushed forward to play last season when he knew that he really wasn’t up to it.
In hindsight, I’ll bet that he was wishing he had hung it up after the ’24 season.
May 22nd, 2026 at 9:23 pm
And Licht said after last season he’d welcome David back with open arms. That’s letting the mental patients run the asylum. A good GM would’ve cut bait before last season. Hey, it wasn’t Jason’s 10 million he was pissing away. Where was Bowles in all this? More loafers on this team last year than at a Payless shoe store. Just following their leader.
May 22nd, 2026 at 9:41 pm
If he was loafing then what is Braswell doing & what was Tryon doing?
May 22nd, 2026 at 9:56 pm
Loafers hamper development. Probably was no help for Sirvocea
May 22nd, 2026 at 10:01 pm
I noticed him not playing with his normal intensity halfway through the season…I thought it might of been because of his age and yet he would come up with a play and I chalked it up to me not seeing things right….itssad …he should of said something after being called out..he should of sat and let the younger guys get theirs….we will never know if or how many games he played a big part in losing. ..like Ali…he fought one too many fights..
May 22nd, 2026 at 10:10 pm
WHO CARES! Seasons over! Fresh start!
May 22nd, 2026 at 10:47 pm
What a mess. Hope this gets cleaned up. It’s a Bucs life.
May 22nd, 2026 at 10:52 pm
I still don’t buy it.
There’s a difference between loafing and physically just not being able to do what you used to do – and not being able to do what you can do on every play just because you’re worn or injured. That’s not loafing – and I find it impossible to believe David ever just took plays off. I think he was trying to get every last ounce of ability out of his body when he was broken down – and as you get older, it’s literally impossible, you just can’t do it anymore.
May 22nd, 2026 at 11:12 pm
David falling on the sword as another act of loving his team
May 22nd, 2026 at 11:53 pm
Another guy with zero rings without Tom Brady. Fake team unless proven otherwise.
May 22nd, 2026 at 11:59 pm
Would have never expected it from LVD but I think he was hurt an the whole team was spinning in a downward cycle no excuse but we still love ya Lavonte it was time for him to retire
May 23rd, 2026 at 1:47 am
To discuss this is big of him. Hope he’s healthy and can enjoy retirement.