Lavonte David Wants To Redeem The Bucs After Last Season
The silver lining for the Bucs, regardless of who they brought in and who was leaving in free agency this offseason, was that they could still compete for a division title in 2023. But with the fact that there are still a lot of core pieces on Tampa Bay’s roster, Lavonte Davis has even more motivation to prove that last year’s team didn’t show what it was really capable of.
The Bucs announced the return of David on a one-year deal on Thursday that had an ensuing zoom press conference after. David spoke a lot about how he wants to finish his career as a Buc and how happy he is to be in the company of Bucs Ring of Honor members Ronde Barber, Derrick Brooks and Paul Gruber, who all played 12-plus seasons with Tampa Bay as their only team.
A whole other factor in David’s return was to erase the negativity of a season that slipped away last year with an 8-10 record — and get redemption for it. This is Tampa Bay’s version of a redeem team.
“Everything was so up-and-down and it wasn’t consistent,” David said. “We’re a better football team than what we displayed. Definitely that playoff loss, losing at home in a wild card game – we basically probably played the worst game of the season. We were outmatched. We just didn’t play the way we know how to play football.
“Obviously that factors in when you’re a competitor like me. I feel like the best place for me to redeem myself was in Tampa. Kind of finishing what I’ve started. I’ve been there my whole career. I wouldn’t want to be nowhere else. They’re like a family there, so I’m excited to be back and get back to playing football.”
