Meet New Texans 'Enigma' Devin White

The new Houston Texans linebacker has had an interesting NFL career.

Dec 24, 2023; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Devin White (45) celebrates a sack against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Reper-Imagn Images / Jeremy Reper-Imagn Images

The Houston Texans have signed former All-Pro linebacker Devin White to join the team as they look for reinforcements in their linebacker room.

Previously, White had landed with the Eagles after not signing an extension with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, White failed to even see one snap while in Philly ultimately leading the team to cut him — allowing for White to look for a home elsewhere.

White has now found that home in Houston and will look to get back to his old ways where he flourished in the early portion of his career.

White was a highly-touted linebacker coming out of LSU back in 2019 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected him with 5th overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. White immediately made an impact once arriving in Tampa Bay, starting 13 games as a rookie where he collected 91 total tackles, had 2.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries (two for touchdowns), and an interception.

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With White living up to expectations and the Bucs knowing what they had, the franchise made a strong statement following the 2019 season and signed the greatest quarterback of all time Tom Brady to help try and lead them to a Super Bowl. During the Brady years, we saw the best of White in the pros.

White was flying around, making plays, a tackling machine, and did just enough in coverage to make things difficult on opposing offenses. White played an integral part in the Bucs' success in reaching and winning a Super Bowl in 2020 and was named an All-Pro and Pro Bowler, but things started to unfold from there towards the end of Brady's tenure in Tampa and then following as well.

The enigma that is White started to ebb and flow at this point as there was a public request to be traded, along with the not-so-subtle, passive-aggressive social media posts stating he didn't like how things were in Tampa.

White was creating rifts within the Bucs locker room and from that point forward his play also started to slip ultimately resulting in him losing snaps to his backup. By his final season with the Buccaneers, White was almost splitting snaps with his counterpart and the franchise had decided not to pick up his fifth-year option; making White free to sign elsewhere this past offseason.

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He would go on to sign a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles and promised that he would return to form strongly, but that never materialized as he failed to see a single snap on the gridiron. The Eagles eventually cut bait with the tumultuous former superstar and after a couple of weeks, he wound up with the Texans.

It is unknown how the Texans will use White, but the even bigger question becomes what White will they be getting? Will they be getting the All-Pro caliber linebacker who can take over games and has a motor that is unwilling to stop or are they going to get the White that is in his head and can't figure out how to get out of his way?

There is no denying that the talent is there for White, but he comes with some massive concerns. However, if the Texans and head coach DeMeco Ryans can get the best out of White then the ceiling of their linebacker room will reach even greater heights than it already is.

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