Buccaneers linebacker Devin White requested a trade April 11 in hopes of facilitating a long-term deal. The Bucs soon leaked they have “no intention” of trading White.
General Manager Jason Licht said last week that White has “done some great things for us as a player and we look forward to more from him in the future, so he’s on our team.”
Coach Todd Bowles, making his first public comments since White’s trade request, was even more definitive on Monday night about White’s stance.
“We’ve got him for another year like Jason said,” Bowles said at the Bruce Arians Family Foundation Gala, via Scott Reynolds of pewterreport.com. “We discussed it. We’re not trading him, and we’ll go from there. It’s the offseason right now, and nothing counts. We expect him to be there when the season starts.”
That made it sound as if Bowles thinks White will skip all of the offseason work, so Bowles specifically was asked whether he expects White to show up for the mandatory minicamp and training camp. Since White is under contract, scheduled to make $11.706 million on the fifth-year option, the team can fine him for every day he misses during training camp.
“That’d be up to him,” Bowles said. “We’ll just coach the guys we have there. We have a good crowd in right now. We are happy with everyone who has come in and participated.”
White has recorded 20.5 sacks, 55 quarterback hits, 35 tackles for loss, six forced fumbles, nine fumble recoveries and 15 passes defensed since the Bucs made him the fifth overall pick in 2019. He made his only Pro Bowl in 2021.