Former Bucs Safety Frustrated With Usage In Tampa Bay

Have you ever had a single situation at work eat at you?

I mean, really gnaw at your core.

Maybe it was a single bad customer who really cut you deep. Perhaps it was a promotion you were hoping to get that you ultimately got passed over for. Those situations sit with us. And often, they stew and grow.

Soon, you find yourself looking for other things to reinforce that bad event as a trend. The one bad customer causes you to remember that other one bad customer. Then another.

Pretty soon, all you remember are the bad customers and the 91% of customers you interact with who are good-to-amazing fall away from your consciousness. The missed promotion reminds you of the other times you didn’t get a raise. Eventually, you forget the training and investment the company has made in you to help you get to where you are now. It seems former Bucs safety Jordan Whitehead can identify with the rest of us.

Following an OTA workout with the Jets on Wednesday, Whitehead spoke briefly about some of his frustrations from his time with the Bucs.

“I would come out on third down, sometimes. I just felt like I was making enough plays, and I was being a leader on the team. It just felt like I should have been in the game,” he said. “I’m a team player, and it’s a team-first mentality, but I definitely was frustrated. I think anybody would be.”

So, How Much Did The Bucs Use Whitehead?

Whitehead takes issue with his usage with the Bucs. This is curious considering how much he played. During the regular season, Whitehead was in on 88% of the Bucs’ defensive snaps. During the playoffs, that number scaled up to 91%.

But let’s face facts.

Whitehead wasn’t on the field for the play. 

You know which one I’m talking about. If you don’t, let me refresh your memory.

Zero blitz.

Cooper Kupp.

Yeah, that one. In that moment, with the game on the line, Todd Bowles elected to go with a defensive backfield of Antoine Winfield, Jr., Carlton Davis III, Sean Murphy-Bunting, Jamel Dean and Mike Edwards. But not Whitehead. If you were an elite athlete playing on the biggest stage possible, wouldn’t you want to be in the game during the play that ultimately decided the outcome? Whitehead certainly did.

Whitehead Wants To Be A Part Of The Big Moments

It’s one thing to play a lot. It’s another to be in the game when it really matters. The NFL world was up in arms when Josh Allen never got a chance to answer the bell after Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs scored in overtime in their AFC Divisional Round matchup. The idea that during the most crucial moments of the game, Allen didn’t even have a chance to get on the field didn’t sit well with Allen, Bills fans and NFL fans as a whole.

It stands to reason that Whitehead would feel similarly about not being able to affect the outcome of a big game he was playing in.

But the difference between the two is that Allen was the victim of a terrible overtime rule. Whitehead was the victim of Bowles’ decision. And following an offseason where he had to think about that final drive and how he wasn’t a part of it, Whitehead likely began to think of all the other plays he wasn’t on the field for that he felt he should have been.

Fans and coaching staffs alike want passionate players who want to be a part of the big moments. Whitehead certainly is a passionate player who wants to be in during the game’s biggest moments. He has been candid about how he felt about a decision he didn’t agree with.

He has also been extremely complimentary of his coaches over the years. I don’t always agree with my bosses. Most people don’t. Whitehead displays a lot of similarities to all of us in how he handles professional adversity. The difference, though, is he has to do it on a very public stage. I get it, Jordan. I hope others do as well.

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