Devin White attends voluntary photo shoot to promote Bucs’ 2023 season
TAMPA — If a picture is indeed worth a thousand words, not much has to be said anymore about Devin White’s demand to be traded by the Bucs.
New pictures of the inside linebacker show a player ready to battle alongside his Bucs teammates.
On Sunday, White voluntarily joined many Bucs players for a series of promotional photos and videos to be used by the team, its sponsors and the media during the team’s annual photo day at AdventHealth Training Center in Tampa.
When talks on a long-term deal apparently broke down in April, White told the Bucs he didn’t want to play under their fifth-year option that would pay him $11.7 million for 2023 and asked to be traded.
The No. 5 overall pick in the 2019 draft is believed to want a deal similar to the five-year, $100 million contract Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith signed in January.
The Bucs did not trade White during the April draft but did select inside linebacker SirVocea Dennis from Pitt in the fifth round.
Despite the impasse, the Bucs have been expecting White to attend their three-day mandatory minicamp, which begins Tuesday in Tampa.
White has not participated in any of the club’s 10 voluntary offseason workouts over the past three weeks.
Asked if he expected White to attend the minicamp, coach Todd Bowles responded, “It’s mandatory. I expect everybody to be here.”
If Sunday’s photo shoot is any indication, White intends to do that and more.
His future with the Bucs came into question in March, when he posted a series of cryptic messages on his Instagram account: “4 year(s) went by fast” and “Thank ya,” along with pirate flag and peace emojis. He included a photo of a sign that read, “God isn’t asking you to figure it out. He’s asking you to trust that he already has.”
In a later Twitter post, White wrote, “Reflecting on how fast my first four years went by, def a thanks to Bucs fans ‘good & mean ones lol,’ " followed by an emoji of a face with tears of joy, followed by, “The upside is scary,” along with a flexed-biceps emoji.
The Bucs began free agency more than $55 million over the salary cap, including a $35 million hit for retired quarterback Tom Brady’s contract.
Bowles has called White one of the Bucs’ top two defensive players. He played a big part in the team’s run to the Super Bowl 55 championship in the 2020 season and was named to the Pro Bowl a year later. Last season, White led the Bucs with 124 tackles and had 5½ sacks.
Looking through a new lens Sunday, he appeared happy and ready to play for the Bucs in 2023.
Contact Rick Stroud at rstroud@tampabay.com. Follow @NFLSTROUD.
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