Lavonte David Snubbed by Pro Bowl Yet Again, Despite Superior Production

Tampa Bay's star defender has made just one Pro Bowl in eight seasons, and this year's snub was especially egregious.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers captain Lavonte David is better than any NFC inside linebacker voted to the Pro Bowl this year. 

In fact, he might be the best inside linebacker in the NFL.

The two Pro Bowl inside linebackers chosen for the NFC, Seattle's Bobby Wagner and Carolina's Luke Kuechly, must have been chosen on some combination of name recognition and total tackle count. Otherwise, there is no reasonable, stat-based explanation for their selection over David.

	Games	Snaps	Tackles	Forced Fumbles	Interceptions	Sacks	Tackles for loss	Pressures	Pass completion %	Yards per target
Lavonte David	14	969	104	2	1	1	10	12	65.8%	5.1
Bobby Wagner	14	937	139	1	1	2	5	5	78.8%	8.3
Luke Kuechly	14	961	131	0	3	0	3	2	67.7%	6.0

Tampa Bay's Shaq Barrett, the NFL's sack leader and one of Tampa Bay's three Pro Bowl selections this year, agrees that David's snub makes little sense.

"He's doing everything and more that you could ask from an inside linebacker," Barrett said Wednesday. "He makes all the big plays, he doesn't miss tackles, he comes down in the run game and pops. He's not just tackling, he's making big hits and the guys are going backwards. They're feeling it. He's doing everything that you could ask. We appreciate him, for sure, a hundred billion percent, on our team." 

David has long been one of the NFL's most underappreciated linebackers, but this year, the lack of recognition is especially egregious, as he is having one of the best years of his career. His raw numbers are nothing to sneeze at, but it's his efficiency and effectiveness in practically every facet of his game that makes him one of, if not the best, linebackers in the NFL.

When comparing defensive effectiveness of the linebackers with at least 100 tackles, David is among the best in nearly every category. Of his total tackles, 9.6 percent are tackles for a loss, second-highest in the group, and when he blitzes, he pressures the quarterback 18.5 percent of the time, third-most in the group. His allowed pass completion percentage and yards per target are fourth-best and third-best as well.

No other linebacker ranks as highly in as many categories as David. Carolina's Shaq Thompson outranks him in TFL percentage, but not yards per target or completion percentage or QB pressure percentage. Indianapolis' Darius Leonard and San Francisco's Fred Warner are more successful pass rushers, but do not touch David in TFL or completion percentage.

Notably, Pro Bowl selections Kuechly and Wagner aren't within a mile of David's effectiveness stats. David is more effective in pass coverage, pass rush and tackles for loss than both of them. He also averages 10 percent more solo tackles.

Obviously, these linebackers play in different defensive schemes and are asked to do different things. However, it is obvious that whether the Bucs are asking or not, David does everything and he does it better than the linebackers going to the Pro Bowl instead of him.