Throughout the 2025 NFL season, SB Nation’s Doug Farrar will write about the game’s Secret Superstars — those players whose performances might slip under the radar for whatever reasons. In this installment, we review the performance of Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Devin White, who put up a first half for the ages against the Tennessee Titans, putting his name back out there after a long time away from his best football.
When you’ve fallen from grace, it can be tough to come back to your best.
Las Vegas
Raiders linebacker Devin White had performed quite the disappearing act since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected him with the fifth overall pick in the 2019 draft out of LSU. It worked very well for a while, as White became one half of the NFL’s best linebacker duo with Lavonte David in Todd Bowles’ defense. While David was the do-it-all guy at his position, White became the two-level pass-rusher and run-stopper who could bull through blocks as well as anybody from multiple zones.
Things started to take a downturn in 2023, White’s last season with the Bucs. His productivity was not the same, and contractual issues had him moving on. The Philadelphia Eagles signed him to a one-year, $4 million contract with $3.5 million guaranteed in March 2024, and released him in October. White never played a snap for the impending Super Bowl champs. The Houston Texans took a shot on White a couple weeks after the Eagles punched his ticket, but little happened there. Injuries had taken their toll, and in 2022, White wasn’t entirely sure he still wanted to do the whole football thing.
By the time the Raiders signed White on March 28, he was an afterthought at best. New head coach Pete Carroll, who’s more than familiar with the process by which reclamation projects can succeed again, said in September that guys with that mountain to climb are a major part of the program.
“I think it feels like a common thread, kind of runs throughout our club, that we have guys that come in here with the chip on the shoulder for whatever their reasons in their background. I feel the same way myself, and I feel like we were relating really well, because that’s what we feel like. And so, I love the mentality. They’ve got something to prove, and they’re willing to work for it. That’s the first thing we’re looking for. Are these guys going to come in here and work and buy into what we’re doing and fight with us along the way?
“And we’re very fortunate to have guys like E-Rob [Elandon Roberts] and guys like Jamal [Adams] and [Germaine] Pratt and [Jeremy] Chinn, all of these guys across the board have it, and Devin White is a really good example of that. I’ve always sought those kinds of players, guys that have something to prove, and so I feel very, very lucky to have these guys on our club. And as we’re building it and putting it together, I think it’s going to show through as a real strength.”
It was certainly a strength for the Raiders in their 20-10 Sunday win over the Tennessee Titans, and White was the primary instigator with six total tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and an interception… in the first half alone. White is the first Raiders player to record a sack, forced fumble and interception in a game since Khalil Mack in 2016, and in White’s case, it didn’t take long at all.
Not too bad for a guy rolling on a one-year, $1.170 million contract with no guaranteed money.
“I think the mindset this week, we talked about it all week, was make a choice,” White said postgame. “Make a choice who you want to be when you get on that field. Make a choice when you’ve got an opportunity to make the play… I think that carried over into the game this week. I think everybody got up this morning and they made the choice.”
White clearly did. And he showed up in coverage, which has never been a strength, on his pick of Cam Ward with 16 seconds left in the first half. It’s tough to say what the hell Ward was thinking when he was holding the ball with receiver Chimere Dike running wide-ass open down the left sideline into the end zone, but good on White for taking advantage of the subsequent wiffle-ball throw in the general direction of running back Tyjae Spears.
White’s sack/forced fumble combo, which came with 6:12 left in the first half, was the result of some unfortunate protection issues on Tennessee’s part. The focus on this five-man pressure was obviously Max Crosby to White’s left, and the overall soup left White completely unblocked to Ward. No bueno!
“I don’t know anybody could put up more numbers than Devin White did today,” Carroll said. “Geez, it’s a stat line. He made a bunch of plays and with a pick and a forced fumble, and tackles for losses, and all that. That’s a great football game for him, and he missed three tackles that… he could have had a ridiculously great game.”
Regarding the oversteps — something that White has struggled with his entire career — he does understand the need to improve.
“I feel like I’ve got a lot more work to do,” White concluded. “Like I said, I’ve got to clean some things up. Sometimes I just [am] running too damn fast, but at the end of the day, I’d rather run fast than be out there not giving my all for my team, and I think it shows. I think one week at a time. I’ve got to put together a full season, and then I can start talking about myself, being back to when I was playing at a very, very high level. It’s also going to come from the coaching staff putting me in the position, and my teammates trusting me to be where I’m supposed to be to make these plays.”
Where Devin White goes from here is unknown, but Sunday was an important step for a player who had all but disappeared, and came back to prominence at the perfect time.
