Lavonte David Talks Contract Impact & Mike Review
August 16th, 2015
Joe’s got more exclusive stuff from the Bucs’ locker room last night
Lavonte David has a giant new contract, and last night was the first time he got a chance to wear a Bucs uniform and approach a game as a big-money, cornerstone piece of the franchise.
In the bowels of a steamy postgame locker room, Joe chatted with Lavonte about what, if anything, is different now.
To Joe’s surprise, David said he feels that signing the $50 million contract gave him a greater internal drive to lead on game day, “to lift everyone up,” David said. “The game is the game, but I feel more of a responsibility to be that guy in the pregame who’s looking out for everyone.”
Bruce Carter is one guy David made sure he was there for completely. Carter, per David, has not completely mastered the defensive calls in Lovie Smith’s system since coming over from the Cowboys. They played a similar defense in Dallas, but, as Lovie says, it’s really a third- or fourth-cousin.
Carter was not the “mike” linebacker in Dallas and was not the primarily playcaller. David likes Carter’s progress and says time will get it right because Carter works hard.
But Joe must tip a hat to David for feeling and executing a new level of responsibility that comes with his fat contract. Some guys, as Bucs fans know too well, start to fade away the minute they hit the jackpot.
August 16th, 2015 at 12:37 pm
Kwon looked like LVD last night. I like the combo of kwon, LVD and lansanna.
August 16th, 2015 at 12:41 pm
@DB55
Everybody loves Lasagna!!!
seriously though, that is a very fast LB core, a little on the undersized, but very fast!
August 16th, 2015 at 12:46 pm
LB is one spot we Bucs fans do NOT have to worry about. LVD, Kwon, Danny L, Carter, and even Greene and Lemon are solid.
August 16th, 2015 at 12:57 pm
Did someone crosseyed design those jersey numbers? I still can’t believe this is the style picked. The number 44 looks like yy. Change the numbers and the unis are OK.
August 16th, 2015 at 1:07 pm
I know Carter was on the field I just didn’t see him. Kwon was in on every tackle seemed like. Even seen LVD blitz the A gap. Wow! I’m impressed. Lol
August 16th, 2015 at 1:36 pm
Kwon Alexander and Khaseem Greene are good linebackers, if Kwon wins the job during preseason. Then he need to be the starter on opening day.
August 16th, 2015 at 1:41 pm
The real Pro’s (like Brooks and Ronde for starters) play for love of the game. The money comes because they’re real Pro’s, not vice versa. Lavonte David falls in that same category.
Our LBs looked solid last night, but the CBs and safeties play left a lot to be desired. And it looked like a big part of that was communication problems between CBs and safeties. Carryover from last year?
By the way, anyone who watched HC Mike Zimmer’s post-game conference would’ve heard him give big kudos to his OLine (“nice job of protection”) and also say that the Vikings QBs “completion percentage was off-the-charts”. Not exactly a compliment to our Bucs defense … not that they deserved one with the lack of pressure and poor coverage at times.
August 16th, 2015 at 1:42 pm
Kwon Alexander looked like the real deal. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him supplant Carter by opening day. When I focused on Marpet he either pancaked his man, drove him back or at least had him tied up. Go Mongo! Expect him to start next week. Go Bucs!
August 16th, 2015 at 3:44 pm
Dick2111
Shaun hill went 8/9 with 2 TDs.
August 16th, 2015 at 5:37 pm
Everybody needs to wait until the offensive side and the defensive gels together. It takes time for the team to know and trust what a person is going to do.
If by a few games into the regular season these problems are happening, we then will have trouble.
August 17th, 2015 at 7:43 am
Derrick Brooks held out 11 days of the pre-season in 2001, demanding a new contract. We all wanna get paid.