Lavonte David

The Buccaneers traded their third (68th overall) and fourth round (126th overall) pick to the Houston Texans in order to move up to the second round and draft David.

Lavonte Lamar David (born January 23, 1990) is an American football linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL).

Northwestern won back-to-back state titles in 2006 and 2007, and was listed as mythical national champions by USA Today in 2007.

Regarded as only a two-star prospect by Rivals.com, David was not highly recruited.

David originally signed with Middle Tennessee State, but then decided to attend Fort Scott Community College in Fort Scott, Kansas.

David led Fort Scott Community College to the Junior College National Championship Game, while ranking among the conference's leaders in tackles and tackles for loss.

He was also a two-time first-team All-Jayhawk Conference selection and a Region VI All-American in 2009.

David was the defensive most valuable player of the 2009 national championship game against Cam Newton-led Blinn.

David racked up 12 tackles, including sacking Newton on the game's final defensive play, before Fort Scott Lost on a punt return for a touchdown.

During his first season at Fort Scott, David led the Jayhawk Conference with 93 tackles.

In 2010, he transferred to Nebraska, where he set the school's single-season record for tackles with 152, in his first year with the team.

In a game against South Dakota State, David recorded a career-high 19 tackles, the seventh- most in school history.

After the season, David was named first-team All-American by Rivals.com and CBS, unanimous first-team Big 12 and Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, as selected by the coaches.

As a senior, David led Nebraska with 133 tackles and ranked third in the Big Ten in tackles per game.

David started all 27 games he played in at Nebraska (2010–11), recording 285 tackles, 28 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks, two interceptions, 12 passes defensed, three forced fumbles and two fumbles recovered.

His 285 career tackles rank fourth in school history, and most by a two-year player.

In May 2021, in fulfillment of a promise to his late mother, David graduated from the University of Nebraska, receiving his B.S. in Criminology and Criminal Justice.

He also led Nebraska in tackles for loss (13.0), sacks (5.5), interceptions (2), forced fumbles (2) and fumble recoveries (2) in 2011.

At the conclusion of the season, he was named First-team All-Big Ten by both the coaches and media.

He was also the winner of the inaugural Butkus-Fitzgerald Linebacker of the Year, awarded to the best linebacker in the Big Ten.

He played college football for the University of Nebraska, and was selected by the Buccaneers in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft.

David entered the 2012 NFL Draft and attended the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana.

He completed all of the combine and positional drills.

Teams spoke about possibly moving him to safety as they thought he was undersized to play linebacker in the NFL.

David was projected to be a second or third round pick by Sports Illustrated and NFL draft experts.

At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, David was ranked as the third best outside linebacker in the draft by DraftScout.com, was ranked the fourth best outside linebacker prospect by NFL analyst Mike Mayock, and was ranked the tenth best outside linebacker in the draft by Sports Illustrated.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected David in the second round with the 58th overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.

In exchange, the Buccaneers received the Texans' second and seventh round (233rd overall) picks in 2012.

He was the ninth linebacker drafted in 2012 and also became the highest drafted linebacker from Nebraska since Barrett Ruud in 2005, who was also drafted by the Buccaneers.

On May 19, 2012, the Buccaneers signed him to a four-year, $3.47 million contract that included $1.36 million guaranteed and a $964,896 signing bonus.

Throughout training camp, David competed to be the starting weakside linebacker against veteran Adam Hayward.

He made his NFL debut in the Buccaneers' pre-season opener against at the Miami Dolphins and made two solo tackles, a pass deflection, and his first career interception in their 20–7 victory.

He intercepted a pass by Dolphins' quarterback Matt Moore in the second quarter.

Head coach Greg Schiano named David the starting weakside linebacker to begin the regular season, alongside Quincy Black and starting middle linebacker Mason Foster.

He made his professional regular season debut and first career start in the Buccaneers' season-opener against the Carolina Panthers and made six combined tackles in their 16–10 victory.

He immediately performed well and displayed great play recognition and instincts as a rookie.

Defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan chose to give David the responsibility of wearing the green-dot helmet transmitter, in order to communicate with coaching staff and making defensive calls.

In Week 4, David collected 14 combined tackles (12 solo) during a 24–22 loss to the Washington Redskins.

Since entering the NFL, David has been named to three All-Pro teams, one Pro Bowl appearance and won Super Bowl LV during the 2020 season, in a 31–9 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.

A native of Miami, Florida, David attended Northwestern High School, where he was a teammate of Marcus Forston, Anthony Gaitor, Jacory Harris, Sean Spence, Tommy Streeter, and Brandon Washington.