ESPN: Lavonte David the Best Ever Draft Pick at No. 58

Lavonte David was a tackling machine as a Nebraska linebacker and he carried that right into the NFL.

In fact, he’s even better in the NFL.

David is eighth in the NFL since 1987 in combined tackles with 1,602. He’s fifth in solo tackles with 1,111. Ray Lewis leads in combined tackles with 2,059 and with solo tackles with 1,568.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers hit the jackpot when they drafted David with the 58th overall draft pick in the 2012 draft. David will begin his 14th season in September.

ESPN recently selected the top draft choices at each draft slot. For example, ESPN picked Lawrence Taylor as the greatest No. 2 draft pick ever.

ESPN’s idea was to select the greatest draft pick from Nos. 1 to 262 in the common draft era from 1967 to 2024.

Yesterday, we featured former Huskers running back Roger Craig, who was selected as the greatest No. 49 draft pick — the highest Husker named by ESPN. Craig was drafted in 1983 by the 49ers and won three Super Bowls in San Francisco.

Lavonte David: Super Bowl champion

David was on the Buccaneers’ Super Bowl championship team in 2020 and still is a major contributor for Tampa Bay, which is considered an outside threat to win the NFC championship this season.

ESPN writer Ben Solak’s describes his guidelines to help determine his choices: “I took ‘best’ to mean some combination of ‘most talented’ and ‘most successful,’ ” he wrote.

He also said a player should have played the bulk of his career on the team that drafted him, and that the team had to be successful. Solak said he didn’t give added weight to quarterbacks.

Solak wrote about David: “David probably won't be a Hall of Famer by virtue of average awards and accolades (three All-Pros, one Pro Bowl), but I will slot him firmly in my personal Hall of Very Good and sing his praises whenever given the chance.

“A Buccaneers lifer with high productivity on the ball (70 passes defensed since entering the league), David has been an era-defining player who led several different Tampa Bay defenses.”

David last month was chosen for ESPN’s All-NFL Roster for the past 25 years. The three-time All-Pro was described by ESPN this way: “No linebacker over the past 25 years has dominated with splash plays quite like David.”

At Nebraska, David was a consensus All-American in 2011. He led the Huskers with 133 tackles, which ranked third in the Big Ten. Tackling wasn’t David’s only attribute: He led Nebraska in tackles for loss (13), sacks (5.5), interceptions (2), fumbles caused (2) and fumble recoveries (2).

His fourth-and-one tackle helped the Huskers defeat host Penn State, 17-14, in 2011.

You get the sense that David would have been ESPN’s choice as the top player at many other draft slots, not just No. 58.

Coming Wednesday: Pro Football Hall of Famer Will Shields at No. 74 and Scott Shanle at No. 251.

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