Lavonte David Named to NFL All-Decade Team

Tampa Bay's underrated defensive captain gets the respect he deserves from NFL.com.

Despite being one of the NFL's best, most consistent linebackers since he entered the league in 2012, Tampa Bay's Lavonte David has only made the Pro Bowl once in eight seasons.

The NFL's annual popularity contest may have overlooked David yet again this year, but NFL.com's All-Decade Team rightfully did not. 

David was chosen alongside two other members of the 2012 draft class, Luke Kuechly (Carolina Panthers) and Bobby Wagner (Seattle Seahawks), both of whom made the Pro Bowl this year over David. While Wagner's selection made sense, Kuechly's numbers were inferior to David's this season.

Here's what NFL.com's Chris Wesseling had to say about picking David for the team:

David may be the most underrated player on this entire list, earning only one Pro Bowl selection and one first-team All-Pro despite topping all off-the-ball linebackers in forced fumbles (20), tackles for loss (116) and solo tackles (709). 

One of the most underrated players in the entire NFL, David has been arguably the most reliable player on the entire Bucs team since the team traded up to land him in the latter part of the second round in the 2012 NFL draft. He may not get the national respect he deserves, but at least somebody's been paying attention over at NFL.com.