Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David is still weighing whether or not to hang up his cleats.
David spent his entire 14-year career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He holds multiple franchise records and won a Super Bowl with the team in 2021. David said in an interview on “The Jim Rome Show” last week that he needs to feel like the best player on the field to keep playing.
“I’m just still thinking about it,” David said. “It was a long season. A long season, for me, personally. Just dealt with a lot of things, and the way everything went. Just got to have a great, right mentality for me. So I haven’t really been thinking about it.”
David said the Bucs front office has kept the pressure off his decision-making process.
“The great thing about it is the Bucs and me, we have great communication, so everything is open,” he said. “We just talk to each other whenever each other is ready to make a deal, do something about it, but right now I’m just kind of calming down, relaxing, getting my body right and getting myself in a great mental place to be able to make a decision.”
David was drafted by the Bucs in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft. In all but two seasons, he accumulated more than 100 tackles. He is a three-time All-Pro, winning First Team honors in 2013 and Second Team honors in 2016 and 2020. He has one career Pro Bowl selection in 2015. He was also a part of the Bucs team that won Super Bowl LV in 2021.
David also entered Buccaneers history this season, tying Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks for the franchise record for total tackles in a career. He also owns the record for tackles for loss, and both forced and recovered fumbles. He is sixth in team history in sacks and fourth in passes defended.
“Coming to Tampa, I never thought I'd be here this long, I never thought I would play football this long, let alone be mentioned in the same breath as Derrick Brooks,” David told Rome of breaking the record.
“[In the] last game, I remember I made a tackle, and somebody came and told me, ‘You just tied Derrick Brooks, bro. You’ve got to go out there and get another one.’ But the only thing on my mind was just winning. ... To be able to be tied with Derrick Brooks is incredible. The accolades that he has, the type of player and type of person that he is, I don’t take that for granted. I’m definitely thankful for it.”
He concluded that the real determining factor would be his mindset.
“I always said, if I’m not mentally there fully, I can’t commit to playing, because when I’m out there playing football, I want to be the best out there on the field. And that’s my mindset, that’s my mentality,” David said.
“If I’m not thinking I’m the best out there on the field, there’s no point in me going out there to play. But so far, so good. The trajectory is climbing, I’m feeling pretty good physically, always, but mentally, I just have to get there. And when I’m there, I have to make sure I stay there to be able to take on whatever the season comes.”
