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TAMPA, Fla. – If it were up to Gerald McCoy, his former Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammate Lavonte David, who retired last month after 14 seasons, would be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame someday — no ands, ifs or buts about it. He said he’d scream it from the mountaintop.
"Look at what he's done," said McCoy, a defensive tackle who played with David for seven seasons, from 2012-2018. "He's got the tackles, he's got the takeaways. Whatever you want, whatever metric you want, stayed out of trouble…
"Put it next to those greats. If you just take the numbers and the accolades and just put the accolades up, don't put a name on it. And you say, 'That's a Hall of Famer. That's a Hall of Famer. That's Hall of Famer. That's a Hall of Famer.' One of those names when you start putting names on it will be Lavonte David."
True to his nature, David let McCoy begin his campaign, while taking a quieter approach himself.
"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 all my play and stuff do the talking and to add to that, my numbers do the talking," David said. "I make an impact any way I can and I hope someday they do decide if they do decide to vote me in, they could see that."
Metrics favor David in many areas. Compare his stats to first-ballot Hall of Famer and Buccaneer Ring of Honor member Derrick Brooks who, like David, played the bulk of his career as a 4-3 weakside linebacker. (David switched to 3-4 inside linebacker upon the arrival of Todd Bowles as defensive coordinator in 2019.) They played the same number of seasons and each finished with a club-record 1,714 tackles as recorded by StatsPass. That mark ties the two of them for sixth in career tackles since the league began recording the metric in 1994.
David's 42.5 sacks trump Brooks' 13.5 career sacks, although Brooks' 25 career interceptions top David's 14. David has an edge with 33 forced fumbles (Brooks had 25) and 21 fumble recoveries (Brooks had four). StatsPass began tracking tackles for loss in 1999, so Brooks' pro career, which began in 1995, isn't a proper comparison. But David's 177 career tackles for a loss are tied for third all-time with Von Miller, and behind J.J. Watt (195) and Calais Campbell (196). They are the most for any off-the-ball linebacker.
"He is a Hall of Famer," McCoy said of David. "If his career is not Hall of Fame worthy … I don't know whose is."
First-ballot Hall of Famer Ray Lewis also played 14 seasons and racked up 2,061 tackles with 36.5 sacks, 28 interceptions, 14 forced fumbles and 16 fumble recoveries. David has him beaten in sacks, forced fumbles and fumble recoveries. They are still the only two players in league history with 1,500 or more tackles, 40 or more sacks and 10 or more interceptions.
The late Junior Seau, a first-ballot inductee, played 14 seasons, finishing his career with 1,763 tackles, 50 sacks, 15 interceptions, 11 forced fumbles and 16 fumble recoveries — with David surpassing him in two categories.
Luke Kuechly and Patrick Willis, played only eight seasons, but David still holds up with their seasonal averages.
David recorded 122.43 tackles, 3.036 sacks, one interception, 2.357 forced fumbles and 1.5 fumble recoveries per season. Kuechly averaged 136.5 tackles, 1.56 sacks, 2.25 interceptions, 0.875 forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. Willis averaged 118.75 tackles, 2.56 sacks, one interception, two forced fumbles and 0.625 fumble recoveries.
Longtime NFL head coach Sean Payton, whose New Orleans Saints and Denver Broncos teams faced David 30 total times between the regular season and playoffs, said it was his “consistency over a long period of time” that stood out, and he compared him to Kuechly.
"There's something to be said for that," Payton said. "Extremely smart. Those guys are always difficult because they see all of your flaws if you're not paying attention to them. … That was what was hard with Kuechly. We would spend hours trying to see what he was seeing because there was nothing worse than when someone like that would call a play out at the NFL level. You're like, 'How did they get that?'"
Kuechly's advantage, however, is being named AP Defensive Player of the Year in 2013, along with a slew of other accolades. David's biggest obstacle will be that he did not receive much awards consideration.
He was a first-team All-Pro in 2013 and a second-team All-Pro in 2016 and 2020. He was named an honorable mention in the NFL's 2010s All-Decade Team. But he was only named to one Pro Bowl — in 2015.
It's important to note that Pro Bowl voting distinguishes between outside linebackers and inside linebackers, but does not differentiate for scheme. David spent the bulk of his career as a 4-3 weakside linebacker. While his tackling numbers, sacks, forced fumbles, fumble recoveries and interceptions were certainly impressive, league voting has always favored sack numbers in these situations.
It's also important to note that David played at a time when the Bucs saw few nationally televised games and experienced local television blackouts, which impacted his popularity among fans. (Fan voting entered the Pro Bowl picture in 1996 and it currently counts as one-third of the total vote, giving equal weight to fans, players and coaches).
The Bucs only played in 12 prime-time games from 2012-2019 prior to Tom Brady's arrival in 2020 — third-fewest in the NFL in that span. By comparison, the Dallas Cowboys played in 41 prime-time games during that span, while the Green Bay Packers played in 40, the Broncos and New England Patriots 38 and the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles were featured in 37.
In 2017, David set a Bucs single-season record with five fumble recoveries in 11 games — tied with Watt and Justin Tuck for the most fumble recoveries in the league in at least the last 10 years. Watt called him “criminally underrated.” David also forced five fumbles that season. At that time, only three players had accomplished that feat: David, Tuck (2010) and Jared Allen (2006).
Pro Bowl selections aren't a prerequisite to enshrinement in Canton. Former Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Ken Riley had zero Pro Bowl selections in his 15-year career. But his 65 career interceptions are tied for fifth all-time. He was finally inducted in 2023, 40 years after he retired.
Former Packers linebacker Ray Nitschke was only named to one Pro Bowl (1964), but he was a two-time first-team All-Pro, a five-time second-team All-Pro, won two Super Bowls (I, II) and five NFL titles prior to the merger (1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1967). He was a member of the 1960's All-Decade Team, the NFL 50th Anniversary All-Time Team and the 75th Anniversary All-Time Team.
Former New York Jets and Washington Redskins fullback John Riggins was named to one Pro Bowl as well (1975) and was named First-team All-Pro once (1983). Like David, he has one Super Bowl title (Super Bowl XVII), but he was named Super Bowl MVP in that game and twice led the league in rushing touchdowns (1983, 1984). He still holds the NFL record for most rushing yards in a postseason at 610. He was named to the NFL All-Decades Team for the 1980s.
Bowles thinks what David did on a technical level — especially in the screen game — and the way he did it makes his career stand out. He believes he'll be an "eventual Hall of Famer."
"Total effort. Honestly, very intelligent ball player. Had a knack for making plays at the right time," Bowles said. "His work ethic, his practice habits, his energy. I've never seen a guy play screens the way he played screens — better than anybody. The stat sheets — they speak for themselves. He practiced that way. He lived off the field that way. He worked that way."
To Bowles' point, David's 5.1 yards after the catch per reception is the lowest of any linebacker with 300 coverage snaps or more since 2016, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. David said he wasn't even clear on how the process works. Just a few years ago, when he was already contemplating retirement, he hadn't considered his worthiness to enter his own team's Ring of Honor, despite being considered an absolute shoo-in. He'll be eligible for enshrinement in Canton five years from now.
"It was something that I never strived for. I genuinely love the game of football and whatever comes with it just came with it," David said. "If that's a part of it, I will definitely take that smiling."
ESPN's Jeff Legwold contributed to this report.
