Bucs’ Devin White says he didn’t balk at rotational role vs. Packers
TAMPA — What bothers Devin White most, the Bucs linebacker said Wednesday, is the perception he quit on his team when he decided he couldn’t play Sunday against the Packers due to a foot injury.
Speaking for the first time since he was made inactive for the game in Green Bay, White said he wants to compete in the worst way. But by playing on an injured foot, he felt his subpar performance was hurting the defense more than helping it.
“I’ve been seeing a lot of stuff, like, I quit on my team, and I don’t understand how I could do that when it was a personal, from me and Coach (Todd) Bowles, decision to sit down and rest to be able to help my team,” White said. “And even when I haven’t been playing, I’ve been in the building.
“I’ve been out there just supporting them, even taking notes, preparing as if I was going to play just in case they had any questions or if I’d seen something I could relay it to those guys and help put them in a better position. So I think that’s the biggest thing that didn’t sit well with me, because I never quit on my team.”
Though both White and Bowles spoke Wednesday, it’s still unclear why the Bucs didn’t report White as out for the game until the inactive player list was released 90 minutes before kickoff on Sunday.
The case is under review by the NFL, a league official confirmed Wednesday.
“We will review the matter with the club,” Brian McCarthy, the league’s vice president for communications, said in a text to the Tampa Bay Times.
White missed games Dec. 3 vs. Carolina and Dec. 10 at Atlanta with a foot injury. But he was a full participant in practice last Thursday and Friday and listed as questionable for the game at Green Bay even though White said he informed Bowles Friday he didn’t feel he should play because his foot was hurting.
“We had a practice last Friday, and I had a little bit more explosiveness than I did have,” White said Wednesday. “But I still felt little bit of discomfort, so I knew I wasn’t all the way there, yet. I didn’t want to jeopardize all the work we put in when we sat the previous two weeks trying to get my foot right. I want to come back and I want to be full-go.”
Bowles tried to address the subject for clarity one final time.
“I’m going to say this one time,’’ he said Wednesday. “He was medically cleared to play. He then indicated that he didn’t feel right. He informed me that he couldn’t play, he couldn’t go. We had ongoing conversations until Sunday morning. I decided to deactivate him. When he got to the stadium, he found out he was inactive.”
White pushed back on reports by the Tampa Bay Times, NFL Network and former teammate Richard Sherman that he told the Bucs he couldn’t go after learning he would be used as a rotational player, with K.J. Britt starting in his spot.
“In my mindset, man, I’ve got to be out there,” White said. “I make the team go, I make the defense go. But if you can’t be yourself, you can’t really go out there and help the team. That’s where me and Coach Bowles had a father-to-son talk. You know how I look at him.
“He was like, ‘D, I’ve got to get you back healthy. I’ve got to get you healthy so you can help the team.’ And I was with it, man. I was kind of glad he approached me that way, because as long as I felt I was OK enough to go I was going to try to go. And that really wasn’t what was best for my health or the team, because everybody knows I like to play like my hair is on fire and be able to fly around and just be real explosive.”
Sherman, appearing on FS1′s Undisputed show earlier this week, said he, too, was told White did not accept the Bucs’ plans to rotate him at linebacker with Britt.
“The conversation that I’m to understand was they said they would rotate,” Sherman said. “They would rotate them and they would start K.J. Britt, but they would bring Devin in and they’d flip-flop them.
“And Devin said he wasn’t about that: ‘I’m not a rotational player, not a rotational guy. I’d like to start and finish the game.’ Which is understandable. He’s been a great player in this National Football League. He’s been a Pro Bowler, but clearly he’s fallen out of grace with Todd Bowles and this defense for some reason.”
Asked why some within the organization said he was unhappy with the rotational assignment against the Packers, White said he wasn’t sure.
“I can only speak from what I know and what I went through and what I personally deal with,” he said. “I know I don’t have to tell no lies. It is what it is. I don’t know. Maybe somebody wanted to give you something to talk about to make the Bucs be talked about, I don’t know. Baker (Mayfield) went crazy last week (with four touchdown passes in the 34-20 win over the Packers), and we’re talking about Devin White.
“I don’t think I should even be mentioned in a game where I didn’t play, didn’t contribute none besides being the biggest cheerleader I could be. ... So, kudos to it. I face everything head on, and it’s just another stepping stone in my journey that I’m willing to face. The story is going to be great in the end, so make sure they give you more information in the end when I’m on the right side of it.”
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