On the surface, you might think that Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Devin White was having a good season. His 168 total tackles entering Week 18 are a franchise record and the second-most in the league. His 92 solo tackles are the third-most, and 10 tackles for loss is an outstanding number.
Agent-driven propaganda via a prominent NFL reporter would also try to convince you that White is having a nice campaign, claiming he is a Comeback Player of the Year candidate. But the eye test says otherwise, and obviously, not all tackle volume is created equal.
Among 87 overall qualifying off-ball linebackers, White is 84th in overall Pro Football Focus grade. His 45.6 run defense grade is 85th out of 91 qualifiers there, and his pass coverage grade of 35.8 is 72nd out of 78 qualifiers in that area.
But anyone who has watched a Raiders game during the 2025 NFL season has literally been unable to avoid seeing White when the defense is on the field, as he has played every defensive snap through 16 games.
Devin White tried to defend his struggles in coverage (but it didn't work)
Numbers can and do differ depending on the source, but any way you slice it, White has been a detriment to the Raiders' pass defense. He is noticeably being targeted more than any other defender, even if it's primarily zone coverage that Las Vegas has run.
Pro Football Focus has him allowing an 81 percent completion rate and a 92.8 passer rating in his coverage. Pro Football Reference's numbers aren't much different, as they have White at a 79.1 completion rate relinquished and a 96.0 passer rating allowed.
In the Raiders' locker room on Friday, Sean Zittel of Vegas Sports Today asked White to assess his 2025 season. Acknowledging his robust tackle numbers, Zittel pointed out that some metrics indicate he has struggled in pass coverage.
White had initially said that he would "Always need to get better, all over my game" and "you can never stop getting better." Then, he started to lose that plot.
“I really don’t understand the 'struggling in pass coverage.' We play zone defense."
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White acknowledged his general responsibilities as a zone defender are "Either the buzz flat, the weak hook or the strong hook." He also noted how it can be hard for analysts and observers to know what coverage the Raiders are playing, and that is an incredibly fair point.
"Sometimes you can be trying to re-route a guy and get into your zone, and a guy (will) catch it where you just left," White said. "It's not logical."
"Even this past game, I see it says I gave up 10 targets, 10 catches. We only played man-to-man twice or three times, and the RB ran a rail route, and he didn’t catch it. Is that not a target? And that just lets you know, the nature of the game, people don't know."
White clearly referenced PFF's data from Week 17 against the New York Giants, where he was credited with allowing 10 catches on 11 targets, actually. The one incompletion appears to be the man-to-man rep White talked about, and PFF data confirms that.
Also, per PFF, three Giants wide receivers combined for six catches and 89 yards with White as the nearest defender in coverage. People may not know all of the deepest details, and analytics are only part of the picture, but fans see these things on the field as they occur.
To be fair to White, plenty of data show how bad he is as a pass defender, so having him operate in zone coverage a lot is setting him up to fail. But White can't fool the fan base, as opposing quarterbacks can still target your zone, and if you give up a reception within it, that's on you.
When it comes down to it, White's defense of his performance in pass coverage this season was patently inadequate, just like his overall performance has been. Don't even get us started on his missed tackle issues.