Lavonte David is a name well-loved by all Tampa Bay fans, and rightfully so because since he was drafted in 2012 and he’s been one of the best linebackers in the NFL every single year.

Despite not being voted into the Pro Bowl since 2015 as an alternate, David has put up Hall of Fame type numbers throughout his career. As of right now, David has 806 solo tackles which puts him at 30th all time and he still has plenty left in the tank.

In 2020, David is starting to finally see some of the public praise he has deserved in his career, much of which can be attributed to the attention that comes with Tom Brady and a winning season. David finished the 2020 season tied for 10th in solo tackles with 86, second in forced fumbles with three, and with a PFF grade of 81.6.

The spotlight couldn’t have brightened on David at a better time either as his current contract with Tampa Bay runs out at the end of this season. Lavonte David has spent his entire career with the Buccaneers and there has already been some talk of trying to work out a new deal but things change in the NFL every day. Here are some of the places he could end up if the Bucs tackling machine decides to test the waters.

Dallas Cowboys

Not many teams love to make splash signings the way Jerry Jones and the Cowboys do. And this move blatantly makes a lot of sense for them. The Cowboys ranked in the bottom half in the NFL in almost every defensive category this season (even with a lot of young talent across the board).

They decided to address this by firing their previous defensive coordinator and bringing in former Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn as their new one. While Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch have looked great so far in their NFL careers, they both have also had trouble staying on the field due to injury concerns.

While you don’t bring in someone like Lavonte David for depth, his leadership skills and experience would be irreplaceable to the Cowboys young defense. With Dak Prescott back in time for the beginning of next season, the Cowboys will have all the tools to make a playoff push.

Bringing in David to be a leader to help improve their defense would go a long way into turning them into a Super Bowl ready team.

Los Angeles Chargers

The Chargers have already shown they’re willing to invest cap space in their defense after signing both Chris Harris Jr. and Linval Joseph last offseason.

While everyone was expecting the Chargers to have a good defense, the offense led by Justin Herbert was a complete surprise. This team quickly went from a rebuilding franchise that just lost their star QB, to a playoff-caliber roster again.

After losing Derwin James to a season-ending injury along with multiple other defensive studs on their roster throughout the year, the Chargers defense underperformed expectations. While their first-round pick Kenneth Murray Jr. looked great this season and led the team in tackles with 68, their linebacking core is their clear weakness to the defense.

Adding Lavonte David to their crew of defensive stars like Derwin James, Casey Hayward, and Joey Bosa would give them an elite talent at every single layer of their defense. They also have the cap space to afford it. Whatever head coach inherits this roster will be like a kid in a candy store with the talent they have, and bringing in Lavonte David would make it just that much sweeter.

Cincinnati Bengals

If we’re talking about what team could benefit the most from David’s services it would be the Bengals. The lack of talent on the defensive side of the ball outside of Jessie Bates III is glaring, while I expect them to invest a large amount of their draft capital in players to protect Joe Burrow.

This means if they want to improve their defense drastically they’re probably going to have to look towards free agency. Cincinnati isn’t necessarily the dream spot for a veteran like David who may want a shot at a Super Bowl ring (if Tampa Bay misses out this year, but if they do win or David is more worried about the size of his retirement fund, Cincy makes a lot of sense).

The Bengals have the most cap space in 2021 out of anyone on this list and already have a lot of their main offensive stars under contract. If Zac Taylor and company really believe they are close to a playoff-ready roster after the 2021 off-season, making Lavonte David an offer he can’t refuse would bring a lot of veteran leadership and a great locker room presence to the team.

The post Top Three Lavonte David Landing Spots appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

Drew Lock 

Yes, Lock is only twenty-four. Yes, he was a very highly drafted quarterback who many people had high expectations for. Yes, I am suggesting you give up on him.

Since this is a dynasty report I don’t think you have to just go out and drop Lock this week and call it a day, especially if you are in a super-flex league. At the end of this year with a couple of missed games, Lock officially finished as the QB23, throwing for 2,933 yards on 443 attempts with 16 touchdowns and 15 interceptions to go with them.

Lock has flashed multiple times in his Denver career but the majority of the time he has looked irresponsible with the football, consistently panic throwing into double or triple coverage. I don’t have the guts to sit here and tell you that Lock has a zero percent chance of being a franchise quarterback, but that hope is exactly what you should capitalize on this offseason with Lock.

Most of the arguments I have seen about why analysts like Lock center around his surrounding cast, which is a fair case. Having Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, Noah Fant, KJ Hamler, and Melvin Gordon surrounding you should make success come easy and hopefully next year we get to see all those players on the field at the same time.

With that said, Lock has not been able to produce what the Broncos have been looking for and the GM that took him in the draft, John Elway, has stepped away from the position into a new role. That means the future of Drew Lock’s position in the franchise will be in the hands of whoever takes that job over and I am not confident they will like him as much as Elway did.

If Lock rolls out 2021 as the starter and fails, it very well could be the beginning of the end of his career in the NFL. Take this offseason as the time to move him for a more secure fantasy asset.

A couple of people I would be reaching out to see if you can acquire would be Matthew Stafford and Ryan Tannehill, who tend to both be undervalued in dynasty formats because of their lack of flair and you may be able to get more back because of Lock’s age.

Teddy Bridgewater

I have been a Teddy fan for a long time, I loved his accuracy coming out of college and just how great of a person he is so this one hurts a little bit to write.

With that said Bridgewater finished his first season as a Panther with 3,733 yards, 15 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, and a QBR of 64.1. Those numbers aren’t horrible but they are exactly what Teddy has been for his entire career; average.

Similarly to Lock I think this offseason is the perfect time to move on from Teddy two gloves, mainly before the 2021 NFL Draft. Right now there are already questions swirling in the Panthers organization if Teddy is the answer for the team’s future, but nothing concrete.

In Teddy’s entire career this has been the best season he has had and it led to being the QB19, if that is his ceiling finish then there is no reason to continue to believe he can amount to being a QB1. I expect the Panthers to take a quarterback in this year’s draft if only to just bring in some competition for Teddy next year.

If the Panthers decide to move on from Bridgewater it could be the last chance he gets at being an NFL starter. I would be comfortable dropping Bridgewater for any quarterback with at least a chance at a ceiling like Jameis Winston, If you’re in a super-flex league go try and trade him for anything you can get whether that’s a third-rounder this year or the next.

Cam Newton 

Talk about ending the year with a bang, in all likelihood this was Newton’s last game as a Patriot and he finished the game throwing 21-30 for 242 yards and 3 touchdowns. He added eleven carries for 79 yards to go with it.

Of the three people on this list, he is surprisingly the most likely in my mind to find success in 2021 but I’m not sure his career is going to last much longer than that. Throughout the year Newton only threw for eight touchdowns, three of which came in this last week.

Newton has the highest pedigree of the three quarterbacks on this list and finishing the year on a high note may have given him a chance at starting for a different team next year. That could make it hard to move on from him after the offseason hype for wherever he goes. Newton just hasn’t looked right since tearing his rotator cuff in December of 2016–he had to drastically change his throwing mechanics which led to him throwing for under 3000 yards for the first time in his career.

Newton is still a monster of a rusher which always helps keep him afloat as a fantasy option, especially if he gets a chance with a team that has more supporting talent than he had in New England. My suggestion with Newton is to ride out the offseason and wait until he gets the opportunity to sign for another team and wait for the hype to build up around him again, as it did with New England, and trade him at peak value. 

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