Lavonte David Explains Why He’s Ready to Retire

After 14 seasons with the Buccaneers, the versatile linebacker who stuffed the stat sheet and won a Super Bowl says it’s time for the next generation to take over.

Lavonte David has been a force on the Buccaneers’ defense for 14 years. | Gary Bogdon/Sports Illustrated

Lavonte David called home. He was ready to quit. He had failed.

On his first day at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas, nearly 1,500 miles from his hometown of Miami, David was finished. A two-star recruit out of Miami Northwestern High School, the homesick linebacker was a mess. 

David had failed his conditioning test badly, unable to complete his second run in time. Underprepared and facing two years in junior college due to poor grades, his parents received a phone call. In return, David received feedback that changed his life.

“They can’t afford for me to come back home, so I’m going to have to stick it out regardless,” David says, remembering that conversation. “So that right there hit. They said, ‘You don’t have any other choice. You just don’t have anywhere else to go. You’re going to have to suck it up. Put your pride to the side. This is something you want to do, something you said you want to do. We’re going to support you through it. But whatever it is, you’ve got to get through it. It’ll get easier.’”

Eighteen years later, David recalls that moment clearly, reflecting on it as he prepares to announce his retirement from football Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s time,” David says. “I’ve been playing football since I was 6 years old. Thirty years straight of football. I never missed a year. A lot of time, man. When it’s time, when you know, you know. I always wanted to be a guy who wanted to retire on my own terms. Right now is the perfect opportunity for that. I give glory to God for me to be able to play football for this long. 

“For me, man, 14 years [in the NFL] is enough. I’m comfortable with my decision. I’m satisfied with my career. When I first got into the league, I never, never, ever in a million years expected to play 14 years at a high level for the same organization. And it’s something that doesn’t come around often. I think it’s time that I hang it up and let the next generation of players come in and take over the game.”

Through the decades, David has found triumph and tribulations. In Miami, he won consecutive Class 6A state titles, including a high school national championship in 2007. But instead of going to an SEC power or his hometown Hurricanes, scholastics forced a detour to Fort Scott, Kans., where he led the Greyhounds to NJCAA national championship game in ’09. 

From there, he spent two years at Nebraska, where he became a two-time All-American under coach Bo Pelini. With 285 tackles, David ranks fifth all-time for the historic Cornhuskers program despite only getting on campus as a junior. He still holds the single-season record with 152 tackles in 2010. 

As the 2012 draft arrived, David was advised he might squeeze into the first round. No luck. On the second day, the picks kept rolling without the phone ringing. 

“It was at my mom’s house,” David says of his draft experience. “It was a little family gathering that turned into a block party, which was just crazy. But it was incredible to see all the people come out and support me. That’s something I’m definitely going to always remember. I specifically remember sitting on the couch. I was sitting next to my grandma. We were sitting and talking. I thought Cleveland was going to draft me. I thought Philadelphia was going to draft me. And I thought Tennessee was going to draft me.”

The Browns went with future standout right tackle Mitchell Schwartz at No. 37. The Eagles took linebacker Mychal Kendricks nine spots later at No. 46. With the 52nd pick, the Titans also went with a linebacker, Zach Brown. 

“I got a phone call, 813 area code,” David says. “And I’m looking at my phone. It’s just ringing. I showed my agent. He’s like, ‘That’s Tampa.’ I’m like, ‘Tampa? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Tampa, that’s Florida.’ You know what I’m saying? That’s the first thing I thought about. And so, I answered.”

The Buccaneers had traded up 10 spots with the Texans to select David, and the rest is history. And in this case, the rest is one of the greatest careers a linebacker has ever enjoyed.

After spending all 14 of his seasons with the Bucs, only Hall of Fame defensive back Ronde Barber had a longer tenure with the organization (16 years). Like Barber, David will ultimately be placed in the team’s Ring of Honor. He also won a Super Bowl with the franchise, helping Tampa Bay win it all in the 2020 season. 

Heading into his fourth NFL season, SI called David the NFL’s premier takedown artist. | Photo by Ben Van Hook /Sports Illustrated

Since 1994, when solo tackles began being officially tracked, David ranks fourth in the league behind only Ray Lewis, London Fletcher and fellow Buccaneers legend Derrick Brooks. He’s also never played fewer than 12 games in a season or 93% of the defensive snaps, including playing nearly every snap for Tampa Bay in 2019. A three-time All-Pro, David missed only 14 games in 14 seasons while coming into the league with the mental side of the game figured out.

“It’s very rare, and that’s why he’s a rare player,” longtime Buccaneers defensive tackle Gerald McCoy says of David’s intellect. “That’s why he played as long as he did. That’s why he’s Lavonte Freaking David, as I call him. It didn’t matter which coach, which defense, which teammates, he was able to adapt. He’s that intelligent. He’s just special.”

But perhaps the stat that most encapsulates David’s singular brilliance is this: David and Hall of Fame edge rusher Julius Peppers are the only players in NFL history to record at least 10 interceptions, 20 fumble recoveries, 30 forced fumbles and 40 sacks. 

And, if you toss in at least 1,000 career tackles, David is the one player in the history of the league with those credentials.

“He was so smart as a player and so heady, and understood the game so well by the time I got him, he could finish my sentences,” says Todd Bowles, who has been the Buccaneers’ head coach since 2022, after three seasons as Tampa’s defensive coordinator. “It was so easy to talk football with him. He knew everything at all times. I put a lot on his plate, having him talking to the defensive backs or the defensive line or the outside linebackers. He really was a coach on the field.”

In the early years, playing for the Buccaneers was a struggle. At one point, David wanted to leave but was talked into being part of the core that turned the franchise around, leading him to sign a five-year, $50.25 million deal in 2016. After going through three coaches and zero playoff appearances through his first seven NFL seasons, David found salvation in 2019. 

That year, Bruce Arians arrived and one season later was followed by legendary quarterback Tom Brady in free agency. With Arians and Brady running the offense, David captained the defense and totaled 117 tackles, including 12 for loss, along with 1.5 sacks and an interception, good for second-team All-Pro. 

In the playoffs, Tampa Bay won three road games as a wild card and became the first team in league history to host a Super Bowl. In Super Bowl LV, against the defending-champion Chiefs, David had his moment. He shined as the primary shadow of future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce, who caught six passes for 55 yards before the score was 31–9 in the fourth quarter.

When asked about David’s career, both McCoy and longtime Bucs receiver Mike Evans directly pointed to David’s efforts against Kelce that night as a primary example of his greatness. 

“As soon as the confetti dropped and we won the Super Bowl, my whole football career, my first eight years, just flashed in front of my eyes,” says David. “Just everything that this organization has been through, what I’ve been through, what guys who played before me and guys who played with me have been through. All that flashed. At that moment, I wished everybody who I played with and went through those hard times with was able to get this feeling, the same feelings I felt. But when I did, the thing that was most satisfying for me, though, was when I did talk to those guys, they all said the same thing. They just lived through me. That night, I don’t think I even went to sleep. It was just incredible. It was fun.”

Before the game, David was on a text thread with McCoy and former Tampa Bay linebacker Kwon Alexander, with his ex-teammates urging him to finish the job. McCoy had one additional request, asking David to FaceTime with him from the celebratory locker room if the Buccaneers won. 

Perhaps David’s only mistake that night came after the game.

“He FaceTimed me, but I think he missed the memo,” laughed McCoy. “He FaceTimed me when the locker room was empty. I said, ‘[Lavonte], I wanted to be in the celebration, not afterwards.’ But I understood, he was exhausted. He was tired. He was in disbelief that it actually just happened. I’m so happy for him, so happy it did.”

After five more seasons, including four NFC South titles, David is now ready to walk away. He doesn’t know what the future holds, other than he envisions football being a part of it, perhaps including a coaching or front office role. For now, David will step back and relax, watch the games on Sundays and watch friends continue their journeys, men he forged a bond with on and off the field. 

“Lavonte was always a guy, for me, that I felt super confident with talking to about anything,” says Evans, who spent 12 years in Tampa Bay as teammates with David. “He would never judge. Always had really good advice as well. Sound advice. He gave me a lot of advice that helped me in my life with my bad choices and decisions I’ve had to make. He’s going to be my big brother forever.”

Lavonte David spent a career terrorizing quarterbacks like Drew Brees. | David E. Klutho/Sports Illustrated

There’s plenty to be proud of, including spending his entire career in one place, winning championships at multiple levels and becoming an All-Pro and a Pro Bowler among other accolades. David also has his health, undergoing only two scopes and no major surgeries during his football life.

But for David, his biggest accomplishment can’t be measured in statistics or trophies.

“The thing I’m probably most proud of is just staying resilient,” he says. “Fighting through all the adversity that I fought through. Just persevering through it all and just being resilient, staying strong.”

Now, David is ready to retire. On Tuesday afternoon, he’ll walk to his press conference at One Buccaneer Place and officially announce he’s ready to move on. There’s nothing left to do. It’s time to enjoy being a 36-year-old man who suddenly goes from ancient to young in the eyes of the world. 

Eighteen years ago, David called home. He was going to quit. 

Now, Lavonte David is finally calling it quits. Not because he failed, but because he didn’t, allowing him to walk away from a career with nothing left to prove. 

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