Devin White admits he didn’t handle things well in Tampa last season. The linebacker is handling being a healthy scratch better in Philadelphia.
“Maybe it’s about how you respond,” White said Wednesday, via John McMullen of SI.com. “How you handle yourself because that’s the only thing I can control. I can’t put myself in the game, but I can control my attitude, my health, every practice, and just my swagger in the building. Still come here every day like a pro and handle my business.
“I got a son. He can cry when he doesn’t get his way. That isn’t for me to do.”
White was with the first team for much of training camp, but Nakobe Dean supplanted him. A tweaked ankle kept White from taking the trip with the Eagles to Brazil in Week 1, and he was a healthy scratch on Monday night.
White was the fifth overall pick in 2019, but his time with the Bucs came to a sour end. He wanted a contract extension, and when he didn’t get it, White asked for a trade.
In Week 15, the Bucs indicated he was a healthy scratch for a game against the Packers, and White felt a need to defend himself against accusations he quit on his team.
It was not the way he wanted his time in Tampa to end.
“I think my situation last year with Tampa, I don’t think I handled it the best,” White said. “It was a lot going on that we didn’t expect to go on, just far as you know, starting off asking for a trade. That wasn’t like me, but I did it. I had to own up to it.
“Went to work, went to training camp, did everything right. Obviously getting hurt. . . . Everybody say I got benched, but I was literally inactive because of health reasons. And that’s cool. Got past it, came back. They worked me into the game with my foot and played nickel and did good at my role and that was the end of it. . . . So, it’s like I’ve been in that situation before of just having to overcome adversity. Just make a man out of you at the end of the day.”
White has never played more than 74 special teams snaps in any season, something backup linebackers typically need to do to make the game day roster. So, Oren Burks, Ben VanSumeren and rookie Jeremiah Trotter Jr. have been the backup linebackers the first two games for the Eagles.