Buccaneers want to extend Lavonte David's contract

Lavonte David is entering the final year of his contract, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers naturally want to extend it, Jason Licht said today (via Roy Cummings). Despite being robbed of a Pro Bowl berth for the third time in a three-year career, David has been an outstanding player and as close to a prototypical weakside linebacker in this system as we've seen since Derrick Brooks.

It's difficult to say what kind of contract David could expect. He's far and away the best 4-3 outside linebacker in the NFL, but that's not a very highly-paid position overall. Lance Briggs tops OverTheCap's list at $7 million per year, and K.J. Wright just signed a $6.75 million per year extension, but David is likely to get more than either player. He'll probably get closer to $8 million per year, and might even argue that he deserves as much as $10 million per year. The Bucs can easily afford to pay him that kind of money, though.

Extending Lavonte David is one of the easiest calls the Bucs are going to make this offseason, just as they extended Gerald McCoy's contract last year. Those two will be the focal point of the Bucs defense for years to come.