The Sports Xchange

TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ priority in the offseason was to lock up All-Pro linebacker Lavonte David, and the team accomplished that with a five-year contract extension that will make him the highest-paid 4-3 outside linebacker in the NFL.

The deal is worth $50.25 million, which trumps the four-year, $33.7 million deal signed last week by the Lions’ DeAndre Levy. David’s contract includes $25.5 million guaranteed, easily the most ever for a 4-3 outside linebacker, nearly doubling the $13 million Levy will receive.

For the second year in a row, the Bucs were able to lock up a key defensive leader before he reached free agency. Defensive tackle Gerald McCoy signed a seven-year, $95.2 million extension in October that includes $51 million guaranteed, so the nucleus of the team’s defense is in place for another six seasons.

During a Monday news conference, David surprised his mother, Lynette David, by announcing he planned to buy her a new home. Then he stepped off the podium and gave her a bear hug that lasted nearly a minute.

What did he say to her?

“He loved me,” Lynette said, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Did you know about the house he planned to buy?

“No.”

So he surprised you?

“Yes. Oh my goodness,” she said. “He did it. He worked so hard to be here and he did it … For me, no more worry. I can leave here in peace. I don’t have to worry about him at all because he’s a good young man. He’s going to do the right thing. Me, my heart is — ah. He did it!”

According to David, he is just getting started. General manager Jason Licht called David “one of the most professional players I’ve ever been around. He and Gerald (McCoy) epitomize what professionalism is in the NFL.

“Yesterday, when we came close to doing the deal, Lavonte needed to sign off on it. So his agent, Ron Butler, wanted Lavonte to get on the phone. So we pulled him out of meetings. Lavonte came up, accepted the deal. We did our bro hugs and all that stuff. We asked him if he could stay for a few minutes and take a couple pictures. He said, ‘Well, you know I really need to get back down to meetings.'”

David said despite the accolades and the new contract, he is focused on turning a 2-14 team from 2014 into champions.

“It’s very important, not just for me, but for my teammates,” David said. “We all have that competitive nature that we want to win. You walk around the locker room, you can see it in the guys. You can see it in practice. The guys want to be the best they can be. We want to bring a winning mindset back to the organization, and we have the guys to do it and the coaches to help us. Hopefully, it happens very soon.”

The coaches have their hopes, too.

They would like to see more splash plays from David, who did not have an interception last season. The Bucs’ linebackers had several drops of potential interceptions during Sunday’s training camp practice.

“Lavonte David is as good as there is,” head coach Lovie Smith said. “Believe me, he should be a five-plus interception linebacker every year. He will. He’s got excellent hands and all that. But the linebacker group, when you have a couple drops, you stay out there a little longer.

“They’re trying to correct a flaw right now.”

Bucs linebackers remained after practice Sunday and caught passes for about 10 minutes.

–Jameis Winston is a big-armed quarterback who wants every pass to be a touchdown. However, he is learning that in the NFL, sometimes a check-down to a receiver or running back is the right play.

Winston threw two interceptions in short-yardage situations in one practice, though he generally bounced back from a poor performance during a blitz period a day earlier.

“The biggest adjustment is checking the ball down,” Winston said. “Sometimes you have to nickel and dime your way down the field and make quick decisions.

“You’ve got to get better every single day. No one is perfect, and that’s the thing about football. You’ve got to find your corrections and make adjustments.”

Even though he threw three interceptions in a blitz period, Winston said he was grateful to get a variety of looks from the defense so early in camp.

“You’ve got to learn every day,” Winston said. “Even on good plays, you learn. So the goal is to get better every single day and make adjustments, to get better off your mistakes and even get better off your accomplishments.”

NOTES: The Bucs agreed to terms with DT Tony McDaniel, who started 29 games the past two seasons for Seattle, which cut him last week in a salary-cap move. The 30-year-old veteran, who will join the Bucs on Tuesday pending a physical, had 31 tackles last year and 53 in 2013. He joins a strong rotation of Gerald McCoy, Henry Melton and Clinton McDonald in the Tampa Bay interior line. The Bucs will open the season without third-year pro Akeem Spence, who is recovering from back surgery and said last week he is out until at least October. … The Bucs signed P Karl Schmitz, waived by the Broncos last week, to challenge veterans Michael Koenen and Spencer Lanning.