Buccaneers Held Secret Meeting With Devin White After Trade Request
Devin White was ready to make his departure from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after requesting for a trade. The team didn't give him the contract extension that he desired to keep him in Tampa Bay long-term.
During training camp, when asked about the situation, White went as far as to call his own actions "selfish," meaning something eventually took a dramatic turn.
Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times says that the turn happened in a "secret meeting" in March, which involved head coach Todd Bowles and general manager Jason Licht.
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White received a raise when the team picked up his fifth-year option, just not the raise he may have been seeking. The first four years of his contract paid out an average of $7.3 million annually. In his fifth year of his rookie contract, White will make $11.7 million.
“Just tell him the truth,” Bowles said last Thursday. “There’s a lot of guys that play under the fifth-year option. We just had to get rid of $60 million. How can we go back and disperse what we had to get rid of to get under the cap? A lot of people play under the fifth-year option. It’s not a slap in the face. When you get drafted in the first round? You get a fifth-year option. If you get drafted in the second round, you get four years."
The 25-year-old linebacker has had a successful four seasons with the team. In his second season, the team won a Super Bowl. The next year, White was selected to the Pro Bowl. He was a big part of an elite defense.
"The market changes all the time. I understand his point," Bowles continued. "He wasn’t disrespectful or anything like that. Devin is a real bright guy. He’s one of the best leaders we have on the team, and he works hard every day."
Now, gearing up for the first season without legendary quarterback Tom Brady, both White and the Buccaneers defense have an opportunity to prove their value to winning, because there's a bumpy road ahead. If White is able to maintain elite play alongside a solid defense, there's no reason he won't get paid his desired contract.
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