Buccaneers Select ILB Devin White with the 5th Pick in the NFL Draft

The Buccaneers as predicted went defense with the fifth pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, selecting inside linebacker Devin White with their first-round pick.

Here’s some highlights on White:

Bucs Krewe, meet Devin.

Devin, meet Bucs Krewe. pic.twitter.com/G66c9vyWfo

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) April 26, 2019

Here’s a scouting report on White from Walter Football:

Strengths:

Superb instincts
Excellent run defender
Sideline-to-sideline speed
Good tackler
Hard hitter
Very physical
Quick
Diagnosis skills
Read-and-react skills
Fits a 4-3 or 3-4 defense
Always around the ball
Quick to the flat
Closing speed
Rangy
Advanced pass-coverage linebacker
Can help cover against tight ends and running backs
Can drop into zone coverage
Dangerous blitzer
Strong, thick build
Durable
Athletic upside
Locker room leader
Upside; continues to improve

Weaknesses:

Good speed, but not rare speed

Summary: In 2017, White went from being a backup to one of the best linebackers in the nation. He had only 30 tackles with one sack and forced fumble in 2016, but he exploded onto the scene as a sophomore. His 2017 production exploded, as White was all over the field for the Tigers. He totaled 133 tackles with 14 tackles for a loss, 4.5 sacks, three passes broken up and one interception. White didn’t get the attention of other SEC linebackers like Roquan Smith and Rashaan Evans, first-round picks in the 2018 NFL Draft, but team sources say that White was as good if not better than either of them in 2017. That is a bold statement considering Smith was a top-10 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.

White then totaled 123 tackles with 12 for a loss, six passes broken up, three sacks and three forced fumbles in 2018. He played well, but teams schemed for him more and tried to limit him with extra blocking attention and trying to move plays away from him. Still, White played really well for LSU.

As a linebacker, White is the complete package. He has excellent instincts and is very fast to read his keys to get in position to make plays. For a big and thick linebacker, White has shocking speed to get to the perimeter, and he eats up space in a hurry. That speed was given numerical proof at the combine when White ran a phenomenal 40 time of 4.42 seconds, a tremendous time for a big middle linebacker.

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