The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have many difficult questions to answer this offseason before they prepare for the 2025 season. One that no one wants to think about is, “Will Lavonte David be back in Tampa Bay for 2025?”
The idea of losing Lavonte David to free agency is nauseating to Bucs fans, who wants to lose a future Hall of Famer?
Lavonte David will be 35 in January, which is old for an NFL linebacker, but he isn’t showing signs of becoming one. He was drafted in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft, and from there, he would start carving out a career that will have him enshrined in Canton when it is all said and done. Three All-Pro teams and one Super Bowl later, David has become one of the greatest Bucs of all time.
This brings us to the question: What will his next contract be, and should the Bucs pay it?
Spotrac speculates that his contract value on the open market would be around $6.5 million, down from his current contract of $8.5 million. He played extremely well in 2024, but at 35, the team isn’t going to give him a raise because, unfortunately, the fall-off has to come at some point.
Washington gave Bobby Wagner a similar deal of $6.5 million, and one could argue that he outplayed that deal.
The Bucs are projected to have just $11 million dollars, before any adjustments, in their salary cap this offseason. The value David would bring to the team would far exceed paying him $6.5 million, or even a little more than that.
In my opinion, the Bucs have to bring back Lavonte David. This is a young team on defense outside of himself, and his presence and leadership are priceless.
He should be a priority for the Bucs this offseason, and I believe Jason Licht wants to make him a Buc for life. Bucs fans are going to be stressed with both he and Chris Godwin being free agents, but they should get back David.