Last Word on Pro Football is taking a look at every team and picking three players who currently represent that team. This article will focus on the rebuilt Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The 2020 off-season has brought many changes to the locker room and many changes to team expectations. The decision to select three Faces of the Buccaneers was based on several factors. On-field play is very important but so is longevity and community. In order to be the face of an organization, players must be a representative of the team on and off the field. The player should be someone respected in the locker room and the community. With that criteria, here are the Faces of the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Faces of the Franchise: 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Mike Evans
No one is more deserving of being the face of the organization than Mike Evans. Evans has spent his entire career with Tampa Bay. He has had over 1,000 yards receiving every year in the league, hasn’t played fewer than 13 games in his entire career, and made three Pro Bowls. He has also been named an offensive captain by his teammates in three of his six seasons. Off the field, Evans supports the local Tampa and Texas communities. He is active with football camps and various charity events, including bowling events in College Station, TX. Most recently, the Mike Evans Foundation has donated $100,000 to the Tampa Bay community to assist with ongoing Covid relief. Evans has been a role model athlete and humanitarian throughout this entire NFL career. He is not only one of the three faces of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but likely the overall representative of the organization.
Lavonte David
Lavonte David has been a leader on the Tampa Bay defense for most of his eight-year career, all spent with the Buccaneers. In those eight seasons, David has started an impressive 13 or more games every year at linebacker. He has also been named a team defensive captain for six straight years. David has anchored the linebacker corps for the Buccaneers through coaching changes and scheme changes and is one of the most consistent linebackers in the NFL with over 100 tackles every year except one since 2012. He was also just named to the NFL top 100 list. Off the field, he does great charity work through his organization, the Lavonte David Foundation. This foundation provides education and financial assistance to public educated students enrolling in college. But David’s assistance does not stop with his organization. David also assists the organization Big Brothers, Big Sisters. A leader on and off the field, David is easily one of the faces of the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Tom Brady
How can a player who has never taken a snap with the current team make this list? It happens when that player has six Super Bowl victories, three NFL MVPs, and four Super Bowl MVPs. Bringing in Tom Brady changed everything with Tampa Bay. The team now has expectations and hopes going into 2020. Brady has more weapons at his disposal now than any team he had in New England, with Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, O.J. Howard, Cameron Brate, and Rob Gronkowski. Brady immediately sought to be a representative off the field when he arrived in Tampa. Brady and his wife Gisele Bundchen paid for 750,000 meals for the charity group Feeding Tampa Bay. During these rough few months from Covid and lay-offs, the charity had seen a huge uptick in demand. Brady’s donation alleviated a great deal of the strain put on this charity. The work Brady has done in his short time in Tampa has proven he is already one of the faces of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
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