Should Lavonte David be a the Pro Football Hall of Famer?

Being a Pro Football Hall of Famer takes a lot of things to go right, you likely have to play extremely well, have a long and consistent career, be recognized throughout your career for being good at what you do and, at times, just be on a good team. Lavonte David hits almost all of those boxes, he played his position, linebacker, extremely well over a 14-year career, but he went most of his career as an underrated player on a largely mediocre Tampa Bay team that only went to the playoffs five times in his lengthy career, albeit with a Super Bowl win in 2020.

Throughout his career, David consistently performed as one of the top linebackers in the NFL, but he wasn’t awarded as such throughout his career, thanks to other big name and great linebackers, as well as a very limited number of linebackers on the All-Pro and Pro Bowl teams.

Should the former Buccaneer great be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Let’s see what the numbers say.

When you look at his career production, David had a very similar career to most of the linebackers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He both had a very productive career, while also playing at a consistent, high-level for 14 years.

library(tidyverse)
library(ggrepel)
library(gt)

olb <- read_csv("nfl_olb_stats.csv")
david <-c("Lavonte David")
hof_olb <- c("Lawrence Taylor","Derrick Brooks", "Jack Ham", "Ted Hendricks","Dave Wilcox","Robert Brazile", "Andre Tippett", "Chris Hanburger","Chuck Howley","Dave Robinson", "Rickey Jackson", "DeMarcus Ware","Kevin Greene","Derrick Thomas", "Bobby Bell", "Junior Seau")
top_hof <- c("Lawrence Taylor", "Derrick Brooks", "Junior Seau", "Rickey Jackson", "Ted Hendricks")
kg <- c("Kevin Greene")
hof_gt <- c("Lavonte David", "Derrick Brooks", "Junior Seau", "DeMarcus Ware")
olb <- olb |> mutate(SeasonsPlayed = LastSeason - FirstSeason + 1)
ld <- olb |> filter(Player %in% david)
hof <- olb |> filter(Player %in% hof_olb) 
top_hof <- olb |> filter(Player %in% top_hof) 
kgreene <- olb |> filter(Player %in% kg)
hof_ld <- bind_rows(hof, ld)
tack_hof_ld <- hof_ld |> filter(LastSeason >= 1994)
hof_ld_gt <- hof_ld |>filter(Player %in% hof_gt) |> 
  select(Player, PassesDefended, Sack, AstTack, TFL) |> 
  arrange(desc(AstTack))

ggplot() +
  geom_point(data=olb, aes(x=Games, y=wAV, size = SeasonsPlayed), color = "lightgrey", alpha = .5)+
  geom_point(data=hof, aes(x=Games, y=wAV, size = SeasonsPlayed), color = "#013369") +
  geom_point(data=ld, aes(x=Games, y=wAV, size = SeasonsPlayed), color = "#D50A0A") +
 geom_text_repel(
    data=ld, 
    aes(x=208, y=83, label=Player)
    ) +
  labs(
    x = "Career Games Played",
    y = "wAV",
    title="How well did Lavonte David play compared to current Hall of Famers?", 
    subtitle="The former NFL linebacker has a Weighted Career Approximate Value (wAV) similar to the current Hall of Fame\nlinebackers (blue). wAV approximates a player's career value through games played, stats and accolades.",
    size = "Seasons Played",
    caption="Source: Pro Football Reference | By Gavin Addleman") +
  guides(size=guide_legend(override.aes = list(color="black")))+
  theme_minimal()+
  theme(
    plot.title = element_text(size = 15, face = "bold"),
    axis.title = element_text(size = 8),
    plot.subtitle = element_text(size = 10),
    axis.text.y = element_text(size = 8, hjust=.45),
    axis.text.x = element_text(size = 8, hjust=0),
    plot.title.position = "plot"
    )

The former Tampa Bay linebacker played at a high-level for a length of time that both separate him from the rest of the pack of NFL linebackers. He is both among current Hall of Fame linebackers like Derrick Brooks, Kevin Greene and Jack Ham, as well as likely Hall of Famers like Terrell Suggs, Von Miller and Khalil Mack.

One of David’s strengths throughout his career was his ability to tackle in space. Not only could he get solo tackles and bring down opposing players on his own, he excelled at bringing down players alongside his teammates.

ggplot() + 
  geom_segment(
    data=tack_hof_ld, 
    aes(
      y=reorder(Player, CombTack), yend=Player,
      x=AstTack, xend=CombTack),
    color="lightgrey",
    linewidth = 1.5
  ) + 
  geom_segment(
    data=ld, 
    aes(
      y=reorder(Player, CombTack), yend=Player,
      x=AstTack, xend=CombTack),
    color="black",
    linewidth = 1.5
  ) + 
  geom_point(
    data=tack_hof_ld,
    aes(
      y=Player,
      x=AstTack,
      color="Assisted Tackles"
    ),
    size=2
  ) + 
  geom_point(
    data=tack_hof_ld,
    aes(
      y=Player,
      x=CombTack,
      color="Total Tackles"
    ),
    size=2
  ) + 
  scale_color_manual(name="Tackle Type", values=c("#013369", "#D50A0A")) +
  labs(
    x = "",
    y = "",
    title="Was Lavonte David a Hall of Fame-caliber tackler?", 
    subtitle="The former Buccaneer has the most assisted tackles of current Hall of Famers who played since 1994, the first\nconsistent year of NFL tackle stat tracking. David was as good of a tackler as many current Hall of Famers.",
    caption="Source: Pro Football Reference | By Gavin Addleman") +
    theme_minimal() +
  theme(
    plot.title = element_text(size = 16, face = "bold"),
    axis.title = element_text(size = 8),
    plot.subtitle = element_text(size = 10),
    axis.text.y = element_text(size = 8, hjust=.45),
    axis.text.x = element_text(size = 8, hjust=0),
    plot.title.position = "plot"
  )

The former Husker was the definition of a team player, a guy that knew his role and excelled in it. David shows through his tackling numbers that he would do everything he could to help his team win.

David was a rarity at the linebacker position, as he excelled at tackling, rushing the quarterback and pass coverage. Excelling at a multitude of skills and statistical categories are both paramount to not just having a great and memorable career, but also to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Good news for David, he fits that mold very well.

hof_ld_gt |> 
  gt() |> 
  cols_label(
    Player = "",
    PassesDefended = "Passes Defended",
    AstTack = "Assisted Tackles",
    Sack = "Sacks"
  ) |>
  cols_align(align = "center", columns=-Player) |> 
  tab_header(
    title = "Lavonte David stacks up well with Hall of Fame competition in key stats",
    subtitle = "The Nebraska alum's stats are very comprable, and better in some categories, to fellow former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker\nand Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks. David had more tackles for loss (TFL) than all Hall of Fame Linebackers."
  ) |> tab_style(
    style = cell_text(color = "black", weight = "bold", align = "left"),
    locations = cells_title("title")
  ) |> tab_style(
    style = cell_text(color = "black", align = "left"),
    locations = cells_title("subtitle")
  ) |>
  tab_source_note(
    source_note = md("**Source:** Pro Football Reference  |  **By:** Gavin Addleman")
  ) |>
  tab_style(
     locations = cells_column_labels(columns = everything()),
     style = list(
       cell_borders(sides = "bottom", weight = px(3)),
       cell_text(weight = "bold", size=12)
     )
   ) |>
  opt_row_striping() |> 
   opt_table_lines("none") |>
  tab_style(
    style = list(
      cell_fill(color = "#D50A0A"),
      cell_text(color = "white")
      ),
    locations = cells_body(
      rows = Player == "Lavonte David")
  )

Lavonte David stacks up well with Hall of Fame competition in key stats
The Nebraska alum's stats are very comprable, and better in some categories, to fellow former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker and Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks. David had more tackles for loss (TFL) than all Hall of Fame Linebackers.
	Passes Defended	Sacks	Assisted Tackles	TFL
Lavonte David	73	42.5	544	177
Derrick Brooks	84	13.5	413	68
Junior Seau	43	56.5	325	80
DeMarcus Ware	25	138.5	152	171
Source: Pro Football Reference | By: Gavin Addleman

The Miami-native was as good in many key statistics as some of the top Hall of Famers at the linebacker position. First, he was as good in pass coverage as fellow former Buccaneer linebacker Derrick Brooks, while also combining the sack potential of Junior Seau and was both having higher assisted tackle and tackle for loss (TFL) numbers than all current Hall of Fame linebackers.

So the answer is yes, if you look at the statistics, Lavonte David should be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.