PHILADELPHIA – The sample size with Devin White is a little too large to expect the kind of play that was once forecasted from him when the veteran linebacker arrived in Tampa as the No. 5 overall pick in the 2019 draft.
On the other hand, settling for $3.5 million guaranteed on a make-good contract after presuming the Brink’s truck was going to be backing up is the kind of wake-up call that can motivate.
That’s the Eagles hope with White, who spent an impressive spring handling Vic Fanio’s defense for the Eagles.
“I don’t know if I needed a change of scenery, but I feel like it was definitely good, a breath of fresh air to be able to start over and work my way from the ground up,” White said of his move from Buccaneers cornerstone to lottery ticket for Howie Roseman and the Eagles. “There’s nothing like a life-humbling experience.”
White’s last season in Tampa ended with him being benched and that woke the LSU product up to the point of understanding he needed to prove himself all over again.
“I feel like what I went through last year was very humbling for me,” said White. “It put me back to the root of everything where I want to build myself back up. I know I can do it. I did it coming out of high school. I did it coming out of college. I did it when I first got in the NFL and it’s time to do it again.”
He will have the opportunity in Philadelphia where the Eagles are somewhat notorious for trying to get by in the modern era without allocating significant assets to off-ball linebacker.
White is the most physically gifted LB the Eagles have had in a very long time but it didn’t translate to the field all too often in Tampa where he developed an undisciplined reputation.
His previous coach in Tampa was Temple product and one-time former Eagles assistant Todd Bowles, who may have gone down a tough love Buddy Ryan/Cris Carter route with White.
White didn’t have off-the-field problems like Carter once did but the comp of Ryan trying to wake the Hall of Fame receiver up by releasing him is somewhat similar.
In Bowles’ case, it was pushing White toward the change of scenery.
“That’s a guy who always had my back, so if he said that then I really agree because he knows best,” White said of his former coach. “He was a father figure to me, still to this day, and he checks in on me.
“I think this new scenery is good. I’m with a great organization, I’m around great people every day. … Hopefully I don’t have to keep changing sceneries.”
