Why Lavonte David’s next stop should be the Pro Football Hall of Fame
· Yahoo Sports
Gerald McCoy says there’s no need for a long debate. The former Bucs defensive tackle has a simple solution. Take a blind look at Lavonte David’s career and decide if it’s worthy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Forget the accolades. The recently retired Bucs linebacker made just one Pro Bowl, the same as Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders. That’s just popularity and politics. McCoy says to strip it all away and just consider the numbers.
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When David is eligible for a bust in Canton, Ohio, in five years, McCoy offers voters one instruction.
“Look at what he’s done,” McCoy said. “Super Bowl. Multiple playoffs. You’ve got tackles, takeaways, whatever you want, whatever metric you want. He stayed out of trouble. Put it next to all the greats. Just take the numbers and the accolades, and just put the accolades up. Don’t put a name on it. You’ll say, ‘That guy is a Hall of Famer. That’s a Hall of Famer. That’s a Hall of Famer.’
“One of those names, if you start putting names on it, is Lavonte David. That’s what I will pitch, and that’s what I will scream from the mountaintop as much as I need to for Lavonte David to be in the Hall of Fame. He is a Hall of Famer. If his career is not Hall of Fame-worthy, I don’t know whose is.”
McCoy makes a good point. If David didn’t play his entire career in Tampa Bay, an outpost of a franchise that didn’t reach the playoffs for his first eight years as a pro, he wouldn’t have been among the NFL’s most underrated players for most of his career.
So let’s take McCoy’s advice. Let’s look at three players and see if we can determine which two already are in the Hall of Fame. Numbers are from Pro Football Reference:
Player A — 1,361 tackles, 41 ½ sacks, 22 interceptions, 12 forced fumbles, 16 fumble recoveries
Player B — 1,716 tackles, 42 ½ sacks, 14 interceptions, 33 forced fumbles, 21 fumble recoveries
Player C — 2,059 tackles, 41 ½ sacks, 31 interceptions, 19 forced fumbles, 20 fumble recoveries
Player A is former Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher. Certainly, he had supreme coverage skills. An eight-time Pro Bowler and five-time All Pro (four-time first-teamer), Urlacher was inducted on the first ballot in 2018.
Player C is former Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, who also was a first-ballot selection in 2018. His 12 Pro Bowl selections tied him for the most ever for a linebacker, and he was named All-Pro 10 times (first team seven times), a record at his position.
That means Player B is David, who has more tackles than Urlacher (the Bucs have David with 1,714), considerably more forced fumbles than either player and one more sack than either player.
A stat that isn’t listed is David’s 177 career tackles for loss. That ranks fourth all time in the NFL. Of the top 15 players on that list, David is the only inside linebacker. The rest are defensive linemen or edge rushers.
David never focused on his statistics. He was among the more team-oriented players the Bucs have ever had. He is fiercely proud of his accomplishments, but ask him about one day being elected to the Hall of Fame, and he says he will leave it up to the voters.
“I don’t know how the Hall of Fame works or anything like that, but I know the process will probably be long,” he said. “I know there are a lot of accolades that go into deciding what you do to get inside the Hall of Fame and stuff like that, but I’ve never been one to brag and boast. I let my play and stuff do the talking.
“When I’m out on the field, I make an impact any way I can, and I hope someday they do decide, if they decide to vote me in, they could see that. It was something I never strived for. ... I genuinely love the game of football and whatever comes with it just came with it. But if that’s a part of it, I will definitely take that smiling.”
It won’t be easy. David is not likely to be selected on his first ballot. He won’t be eligible for five years. When he is, remember how difficult it was for other Bucs players. It took safety John Lynch eight times as a finalist before he was elected. Cornerback Ronde Barber was a finalist three times.
Voters need to consider that David was a member of the NFL All-Decade Team for the 2010s. That’s one of the many markers that carry weight in the room.
The two biggest things that won’t help David is that players from bigger media markets and those who play for legacy teams such as the Bears, Packers, Giants, Steelers and Commanders have the most players inducted.
The Pro Bowl used to be relevant in these debates, but there is a reason why David was snubbed. For years, if you played outside linebacker in a 4-3 defense, you were on the ballot with 3-4 defensive ends or edge rushers. Those guys tend to have bigger sack numbers, and that often was the difference.
One player who was just elected to the Hall of Fame in 2026 should help David. Former Panthers inside linebacker Luke Kuechly came into the NFL at the same time. Kuechly only played eight seasons before concussions forced him out of the game. He called David shortly after Tuesday’s retirement announcement.
Kuechly finished with 1,092 tackles, 12 ½ sacks and 18 interceptions in 118 career games. But he has a couple of things David never had: AP Defensive Rookie of the Year (2012) and NFL Defensive Player of the Year (2013) honors.
McCoy says nobody prepared harder than David, and it showed.
“I would say Dan Orlovsky, (Ryan Fitzpatrick), Luke Kuechly, Lavonte and Keith Tandy are probably the greatest football minds I’ve ever been around,” McCoy said. “And then when you partner his ability to play the way he could, I call him Flash for a reason: his preparation, his mind, how he approached the game, and I get to watch him.
“I was a big process guy. You guys see the finished project. To see his process and put it all together and watch him perform? That’s why I say Aaron Donald, Aaron Rodgers and Lavonte David are my favorite football players of all time. To see his process and then see his finished product on Sundays? You got to see the finished process.”
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