With our perceived strength on the dline, and questionable back end I would say speed is going to be important because I think we’re going to be seeing a lot of screen plays against us this year. Don’t see any competent QB/coordinator combos running many slow developing plays.
I think Devin White may end up being the 2026 equivalent of 2025 Rock Ya-Sin. An under the radar afterthought of a signing that whole flawed as a player has a narrow but considerable talent that could be maximized by proper application of scheme and usage.
Sin always struggled with dialing back the grabbiness leaving him in the no man’s land of indecisiveness. Coming to a system in which we lived with and almost embraced the inevitable defensive holding call allowed him to get back to the playing style that he has ever had success with.
Devin White has always been a freak show athlete. He’s an Earl Campbell like blend of squatty power and breathtaking speed and acceleration. But the upstairs aspects of LBer play have always been a struggle for him. I believe that we think that if the game
Is simplified for him and he is deployed in a see ball, hit ball, run down the seem with big, fast TE, etc sort of way I think we could see dividends even if it’s in a part time roll.
I know there is some consternation as to what he might look like in coverage if he does end up in the AA role which, in addition to more safety and corner reps filling that role, is IMO where this is going. I’m not going to pretend like I know how I know how that will go. But I do think that there are two important facets to recognize and at least stay open minded about coverage outcomes:
1:) for the most part the sort of recognition skills that led to him struggling in coverage scenarios as a an inside backer in zone heavy schemes are entirely different than the go be a space athlete responsibilities that we out on Alex.
2:) while the anticipation and instincts will be a step down from AA we are talking about a completely different level of recovery speed. Like .25 seconds in a forty type of difference. Often times in football game changing defensive plays are made when a QB sees it just a tick late and sheer athleticism makes him pay for that extra beat.
To be clear I’m not expecting stardom here. He’s likely LB4 (or sort of a platoon LB3). I’m suggesting a depth role that we may really come to value. We signed him off the street. As opposed to Sin who was targeted early (I believe that we honed in on the play style fit), we just kind of fell into this one. But to me the tea leaves suggest that we both see something useful and differentiated here. I think he’s going to make the team and I think he’s going to see the field more than most currently realize. We don’t really have another option to both juice team speed and get the sort of heft on the field that we clearly prefer.
Yeah, we’re going to disagree on this one. Oh, I think he can be useful, but I had to watch too many Tampa games at the end of his career there and he just… well he has negative instincts in coverage. I just don’t think you can survive with a guy like that on the field except in some sort of obvious situation where the offense has to play a certain way.
I know you have your opinions on Risdon, but here’s what he had to say about White in yesterday’s practice report:
Devin White continues to show zero anticipation or discipline in coverage situations. White has definitely impressed against the run, but he’s got a giant bullseye on his No. 45 jersey in coverage. It appeared Jared Goff twice deliberately and directly attacked White’s coverage, the second of which resulted in a TD for Brock Wright when White wound up covering fellow LB Jack Campbell instead of the tight end. I don’t know how to reconcile White’s lightning-burst closing speed and impressive block-sheeding and block-avoidance in the run game with his almost comical lapses in coverage.
I know it’s only one practice, hell, only two plays. I wouldn’t put too much into it IF it wasn’t simply more of the same from the massive pile of data we have from his career to this point. It’s maddening, but at this point I can only come to the conclusions that it is what it is.
Is Risdon talking man or zone? I think that matters a lot with White. If you are looking for a LBer to run down the seem or with a crosser then he is one of our better options IMO. If he’s in his drops reading keys having to decipher truth from lies of a QBs eyes than you have concerns.
So a lot of this depends on how big of a shift in scheme we are looking at. And of course how long we are waiting on Rolder.
The issue there is even in this scenario, a subtle head fake sends them yards the wrong way. It’s the same issue any ‘good athlete but bad cover LB’ has… they can stay stride-for-stride fairly easily with RBs and TEs, but any level of route nuance at all and they simply go flying by. Honestly at that point their athleticism can come back to hurt them.
Does it? Do you just mean in general? When I have watched TB recently their LB coverage is far more in line with the rest of the league than ours. I would have thought his issues in that scenario would more so be with passing off and taking the pass off of the crosser rather than being fooled at the stem.
We’ll see. I think it’s clear that we’re searching for that AA replacement. Dan has repeatedly spoken highly of White, made it clear that we view him as a WILL and they have made mention of him shedding weight. I think all of that points to him being considered for that second backer when in traditional nickel personnel. Could be Barnes still but we know what that looks like. Might be Rodrigo but that leaves us smaller than we prefer to be in in between downs.
Hopefully Rolder gets back soon and cements that spot long term but rookies losing out on camp is a tough one to overcome.
I tend to agree but I am not 100% sure if that’s an accurate statement because the guy had a probowl year. We’re talking about a probowler who’s been inconsistent outside a couple stellar years. Obviously more inconsistent than consistent. I think some of that is scheme, some of that is brains, the biggest aspect of that is his footwork. When I broke his film down …. The times he was beat or out of position were the times he used poor footwork. This is correctable and teachable but at his age he’s likely already set in his ways. But I do think good coaching and scheme can mitigate that some.
FYI - he really stood out the other day in practice. He looked like our best coverage LBer. He broke up several passes. Intercepted one and caused an interception on another one.
You could be right. And of course there is no way to prove what is going on upstairs. It just seemed like he was often fooled by misdirection and what not.
To clarify I am saying it’s more footwork than brains…. While I agree it looks like he’s thinking too hard and caught off guard too often. The inconsistency is obvious. Just like the athleticism is obvious.
I think maybe it’s not accurate to call it brains or mental lapses ….. to me anyways it looks more like scheme, coaching and footwork than it does football smarts.
I think a smart coach and scheme could help mitigate that weakness.
Point I’m making is it’s possible he could look a lot better in Detroit than he has in his previous stops. The Lions coached up AA and coached up his ego in a way that his play improved. They could do the same with him.
The Devin White he’s seen a week into Lions camp is closer to that All-Pro Buc than the Raider who struggled.
“He looks like a different guy than what we saw in Vegas last year on tape. I mean, he’s moving well, he’s thumping, pretty smart,” Campbell said. “He’s got speed, still has that speed. And what I’m seeing right now, that’s what I remember in Tampa Bay when I was in New Orleans. That was the guy, he was a headache.”
He is fun to watch, even highlights when he was a Raider. He is a missle once he diagnoses a play. I hope this system helps eliminate his issues somewhat.
With our depth issues I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he made the roster, at least until Rolder’s ready. I just expect him to be a backup who doesn’t play a ton.