Will Bobby Wagner Deal Trigger Lavonte David?
March 7th, 2025
So future Hall of Fame inside linebacker Bobby Wagner will be inking another one-year deal to return to Washington, NFL.com announced today.
Wagner is a close friend of Bucs icon Lavonte David and is his 2012 draft mate.
As recently as last year, David said the two talk regularly. On the Washington mic’d up segment featuring January’s Bucs-Commandos playoff game, Wagner is heard asking a Bucs player after the game if David is ok and where he is.
SiriusXM NFL Radio is reporting Wagner will get $8 million guaranteed and a chance to earn up to $9.5 million with incentives. Wagner had a fantastic 2024 season, played all 17 games and got his 10th Pro Bowl invite.
The silence regarding David’s future has been eerie. So Joe is wondering whether David’s camp was waiting for Wagner’s deal to be secured before pressing the Bucs on making a deal and announcing he wants to play in 2025.
After all, if David plays this year, it’s very likely his final season and he might as well squeeze the Bucs for the biggest paycheck he can get.
Joe has no doubt the Bucs will pay him, and now the bar on legendary returning linebackers has been set.
March 7th, 2025 at 8:25 am
Shoot, pay the man a two year deal fully guaranteed at this point. He is a baller and the lifeblood of our defense. Schiano nailed that pick. I remember Joe crowing for him hard out of Nebraska- helluva call. Same call you made for Godwin. lol, do it again this year and pick out another stud.
March 7th, 2025 at 8:49 am
Possibly LVD and ME13’s curtain call? We need to go all in !!
March 7th, 2025 at 9:11 am
Just do it!
March 7th, 2025 at 9:19 am
Too bad we couldn’t steal him away from the Skins, having LVD and Bobby on the same team for a year would of been EPIC
March 7th, 2025 at 9:22 am
One year 6 mill with 4 mill guaranteed. 2 mill superbowl appearance incentive. Great guy but he’s 34 and declining. If he can find a better deal draft his replacement and sign one in free agency. Overpaying is not an option.
March 7th, 2025 at 9:33 am
Trump needs to change the tax laws for millionaire athletes.
A 10 million deal is really only 5 million.
Uncle Sam takes 50% of these players deals.
No one in America should ever pay more to an 20% in taxes.
Teachers shouldn’t pay taxes at all.
Even billionaires shouldn’t have to pay more than 20%.
But NFL athletes lose 50% of their cash. That’s crazy!
March 7th, 2025 at 9:56 am
LaVonte had a great season and if we get him some strong help he’ll probably have a career year this year. But it’s almost over. 2 more years tops. Gonna be a sad day when he hangs them up. A real sad day. That sadness could be dampered though. Another Super Bowl or 2 would be the sadness dampener that a man like LaVonte David deserves. The young guys on this team have to step up for a guy like him. That’s all there is to it!
March 7th, 2025 at 10:02 am
David deserves time to make the right choice for him. Time table shouldn’t be an issue because even if he returns we should still be looking for his eventual replacement.
March 7th, 2025 at 10:03 am
Teacherman, I’m sure that athletes are taxed at the same rate as the rest of us. That being said I escape to JBF to get away from things like tax inequality and taxing wealth in our country. Maybe you could find another site for that.
March 7th, 2025 at 10:03 am
Wagner has higher taxes playing for the Redskins
March 7th, 2025 at 10:15 am
And Trump, more than anyone in the world, should have absolutely zero to do with tax laws. Our constitution leaves that up to the legislative branch.
March 7th, 2025 at 10:54 am
Can you imagine LaVonte and Bobby Wagner playing side by side in pewter and red?
I would have loved to have seen that, even if just for one season.
I want LaVonte to play one more season, but of course, that’s up to him.
If he does come back, he deserves to be paid commensurate to what other top LBs in the league are getting. No excuses!
Pay The Man.
March 7th, 2025 at 11:01 am
I have not watched Wagner as much as David.
I know most of these years, they have compared both been considered quite good.
If PFF matters to you – I think 3 out of the last 4 years David has outperformed Wagner. If last year is the only year that matters to you then according to PFF, Wagner was the better player.
I will go with the Bucs brass on how much they value David and it seems they value him quite a bit still.
March 7th, 2025 at 11:22 am
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!HOPE David says this!!!!!!!! PAY HIM BUCS, PAY THE MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO BUCS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 7th, 2025 at 11:25 am
LVD signed on March 23, 2023
LVD signed on March, 22, 2024
Both years, no word until he signed.
March 7th, 2025 at 12:41 pm
If David and Godwin resign we can forget about a stud edge rusher pick your poison.
March 7th, 2025 at 12:46 pm
@Kenton Smith…
Sure. Except when the President (in this case who, again?) vetoes what Congress wants to do.
The statement that “Trump should…” implies that Trump (as the leader of his party) should advocate for / direct members of his party (the majority) to do thus-and-such a thing.
Works best when you have a majority of both houses of Congress, as Trump does (and as Obama did, when that party had zero compunction about a president getting literally anything he wanted).
March 7th, 2025 at 1:17 pm
$10 million is probably what we’ll pay.
SteveK, I doubt he would sign a 2 year deal, even if guaranteed
March 7th, 2025 at 1:21 pm
“But NFL athletes lose 50% of their cash. That’s crazy!”
“In some years, billionaires such as Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and George Soros paid no federal income taxes at all.”
This is not a political statement. Note that the three guys span all the political spectrum.
Any NFL athlete who is paying 50% in taxes simply has HORRID financial advice.
March 7th, 2025 at 1:40 pm
I think he’d accept 6-7mil a year. Another team will pay him 8mil but I think he’ll take a hometown discount so he doesn’t have to move and he’ll save that money on state income taxes anyway.
March 7th, 2025 at 1:48 pm
Teacherman..
What makes teachers so special they don’t have to pay taxes? Average teacher’s salary is 69K in the US and 53K in FL. That is of course for 9 months work so it is actually $5900 per month in FL for the 9 months. Most have set up jobs for the other 3 months. The paid holidays are pretty nice also.
I respect that teachers have an important and difficult job but the current track record for results is terrible.
As usual, just my 2 cents…
March 7th, 2025 at 2:46 pm
Hmmm…Teacherman advocates for teachers paying no income taxes.
March 7th, 2025 at 4:26 pm
David is like a great bottle of red wine. He just gets better with age. That cannot be said about many in the nfl.
March 7th, 2025 at 6:35 pm
Match it. LVD – future ROH and if Ira can work his magic, maybe HOF.