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Throughout his 10-year tenure as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' general manager, Jason Licht has mainly been successful in the NFL Draft. However, if there is one selection he greatly regrets, it was taking linebacker Devin White in 2019.
At the time, White was a consensus top linebacker of the 2019 NFL Draft coming out of LSU. The Buccaneers took a shot on him at No. 5, a decision Licht said he would not make again.
“Knowing what I know now, [Devin White] would have been off my board,” Licht told ‘The Athletic.' “It was too much about him.”
White was not viewed as a bust on the Buccaneers; he was actually a premier linebacker in the league. White was an All-Pro in his second year and a Pro Bowler by year three, and led the team in tackles both years. Instead, it was his off-field issues that led to his demise.
After failing to agree on a contract extension, White requested a trade in 2023. The Buccaneers wanted to keep him, but White's performance declined significantly from his fourth to his fifth season. Tampa Bay obliged and sent him to the Houston Texans, where he started just one game in 2024.
White's extracurricular activities have always been a dark mark on his career. He was one of the most controversial recruits in recent history when he committed to LSU after multiple arrests in high school, including a misdemeanor charge for having sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl.
Buccaneers' Jason Licht explains pre-draft process
While White clearly still possesses talent, his uneven mental state has prevented him from being an elite athlete. That is exactly the type of player Licht now looks to avoid, he told Pat McAfee ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft.
“It's really not that hard,” Licht said, via ‘The Athletic.' “We put the players that are worthy of being drafted on the board like every team does, but then we just kind of take the A-holes and the douchebags off, and the guys that don't love football and guys that have proven they don't like it, that are difficult to deal with. We just kind of mitigate our risk.”
That second step would likely have removed White from Licht's 2019 NFL Draft board. The Buccaneers drafted White for his talent and potential, but Licht does not believe his personality aligns with what he is trying to build.
