Lavonte David on 14 Years in Tampa

Lavonte David retired after fourteen seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the full sit-down with Rich covers the speech, the decision, and the stories he hasn't told yet.

The retirement press conference speech went viral because it came from the gut. David had nothing written down. He wanted to give people a little insight into what drives him, and what drives him was his parents. Both gone now. Both his biggest supporters until the day they died. People told him he made them cry. He watched clips back and recognized the genuine thing he put out there.

The decision came from a quieter place.

David says he is a structured guy. He needs to know where he is going and what he is doing. At the end of last season, that drive he had felt for fourteen years wasn't there. Nobody pressured him. Everyone gave him time. One day he looked himself in the mirror and asked if he was still playing at his own standard. There were plays last year he wasn't proud of. People kept telling him he could still go. He knew he could still play. The question was whether he could play at the level he held himself to.

He gave the game thirty years of his life. He said that is enough. The young guys are getting faster.

The first call went to Jason Licht. Then Todd Bowles. Both conversations were hard. The Tuesday after, the press conference happened.

He is happy with the decision. He has a three-year-old daughter, Logan, who is going to keep him active. He is going to put her in sports this summer. He wants to travel. He likes food. He jokes about a restaurant tour but promises he is not going to blow up.

Rich asks for stories. David delivers three.

The Tom Brady story. Bucs were 7-5, coming off three straight losses including the Chiefs game where Tyreek Hill was still scoring late. Brady pinned David in the hallway during a check-in on where the captain's head was at. Brady said, trust me, we're not going to lose another game. They didn't. They won the Super Bowl on their home turf. The hug David gave Brady after was about someone delivering on a promise to help him reach the thing he had always wanted.

The Bruce Arians story. The ME chart. If you ended up on it more than once, Arians would cuss you out in front of the team. Dumb MFers didn't stay on his roster. Player coaches holding players accountable changed the culture. David says they used to lose games on stupid stuff. Arians made it an emphasis. Brady, to David's knowledge, never ended up in that barrel.

The Jameis Winston story. Training camp. Hot day. Gerald McCoy trying to push the team. Jameis clapped back with, Gerald, you play D-line, you ain't going to do nothing anyway. First time David saw McCoy genuinely pissed. Then David nods to the infamous eat a W speech, one of the craziest things he has witnessed in NFL history, and says he still loves Jameis. Authentic guy. You get what you get.

The proudest moment was the Super Bowl. On home turf. Coming off eight losing seasons in a row. The Bucs wanted him to be part of the turnaround. He was. That is the pat on the back he gives himself.

David is done playing. He wants to stay around the game. Scouting. Front office. Maybe media. After fourteen years of the physicality, he admits watching football now makes him wonder how he did it at all.