‘He’s back’: Super Bowl champ turning heads at Raiders camp

The first training camp practice in full pads is always a litmus test for NFL teams.

Football, above all else, is about toughness and physicality. The dividing line between real players and pretenders becomes clear when the real hitting starts.

Devin White has always been on the right side of that line. The 27-year-old linebacker has been one of the most prolific tacklers in the game for most of his six seasons in the NFL. He’s run sideline to sideline to make plays and has never hesitated to put his body in harm’s way.

It’s no surprise then that White popped when the Raiders put on pads for the first time Monday. Coach Pete Carroll said White made two or three of the best plays of the day.

The Raiders then wanted to see him do it again.

White knew the questions about his consistency were coming after the past two years, which he said Tuesday have been a huge challenge mentally and physically.

The rough stretch included the death of his father, just after the two started connecting again after years of separation. It was a devastating blow.

“It just makes you not care about nothing,” White said.

He also dealt with physical issues that affected his production. White, after totaling 124 or more tackles for three straight years, made just 83 during the 2023 season.

He was then limited to seven games last year and recorded just 19.

That kind of production makes the questions surrounding White valid. But he’s determined to answer them.

He had another strong practice Tuesday and grabbed an interception. That caused Carroll to make a bold statement about the 2021 Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion.

“He’s back,” Carroll said.

Huge add

White would be a massive boost for the Raiders linebacker room if he continues to look like his old self.

The position was up in the air this offseason after starters Robert Spillane and Divine Deablo left in free agency. The Raiders responded by bringing in White, veterans Elandon Robert and Germaine Pratt and Pro Bowl safety Jamal Adams, who they plan to convert to linebacker.

“This is a good group for us now,” Carroll said. “We have totally changed this position group from what you’ve seen in the past, and these guys all bring background and experience and toughness and a hard-nosed attitude. … It’s pretty exciting.”

White is a major reason for that optimism.

He was selected with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2019 draft by the Buccaneers out of LSU. The Raiders signed him to a one-year deal in March hoping he could recapture the form that made him so valuable in Tampa Bay, where he was part of the team that won Super Bowl 55.

There was no guarantee White could reach that level again. But the Raiders are encouraged by what they see so far.

“He was on top of the world a few years ago, and then things kind of just didn’t work out (for) one reason or another,” Carroll said. “And he’s back in action now. And he came up to me and said, ‘I’m all in now.’ And he was dead serious in how he said it. And you can see it. You can see it.”

Sudden loss

White found out about the death of his father Carlos just hours before the Buccaneers boarded a flight to Germany for a game against the Seahawks in November 2022.

Carlos White was 45 years old when he died. He spent most of his son’s childhood incarcerated.

“Growing up, you want to be like your dad, that’s your role model, and I didn’t have that,” Devin White said. “I had to look at my mom. She was my Superman, even though she was a woman. And my mentor.”

White said his father’s death put him in “a bad spot” mentally because the two were finally starting to build a healthy relationship. He was facing professional challenges as well. He hoped to earn a long-term contract extension from the Buccaneers, but instead played the 2023 season on the fifth-year option from his rookie deal.

He left for the Eagles, but suffered an ankle injury before the team’s 2024 opener. He never played for Philadelphia and was released in October. White finished the season with the Texans but didn’t look like his usual self.

All that adversity made him question whether he wanted to still play football. A conversation with his mom set him straight. She told him it was understandable if he wanted to stop, given all he’d accomplished in his career.

But those words made White realize the thought of quitting made his stomach turn.

“When she said that, it just lit a fire under me. Like give up? That ain’t me,” White said. “That’s never been me.”

He got another opportunity with the Raiders. General manager John Spytek was in the Tampa Bay front office when White was drafted. He knew what White looked like at his best.

And one week into training camp, White is showing he still has something left in the tank.

“I feel comfortable, I feel healthy, I feel thankful, I feel hungry,” White said. “Still got to prove it to the world on each and every Sunday. I’ve got to prove it to my team every day I step in the building. It’s just a mindset.”

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on X.