PHOENIX — There were plenty of Chargers fans unhappy last year when the team opted to not re-sign Kyzir White.
Another person left unhappy: Kyzir White.
“I was mad because I wanted to come back,” the linebacker said this week. “I didn’t want to go anywhere else. I wanted to finish my career there, be there for 10-plus years.”
Instead, White became a free agent and signed a one-year deal with Philadelphia. Now, he’s readying for Super Bowl LVII on Sunday at State Farm Stadium in nearby Glendale.
“I’m here on the biggest stage,” White said, smiling. “So I can’t really be that mad, right?”
The Chargers drafted White out of West Virginia in the fourth round in 2018, taking the safety with the plan of converting him to linebacker.
Former Chargers linebacker Kyzir White touches a lightning orb on his way to the field to play the Vikings at SoFi Stadium in 2021. White spent his first four seasons with the Chargers and recorded a whopping 144 tackles in 2021.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
White began his rookie year as the starter opposite Denzel Perryman until a knee injury in Week 3 knocked him out for the season.
He continued to contribute — starting 17 of the 27 games he played — over the next two seasons.
In 2021, playing in then-new coach Brandon Staley’s system, White was able to remain healthy and used the extended opportunity to excel. Starting all 17 games, he led the Chargers with 144 tackles, adding two interceptions and two forced fumbles.
All of this earned him nothing long term, White explaining that the Chargers never made him an offer at a position — inside linebacker — that has limited value in their scheme and, increasingly, leaguewide.
Though he admitted to being upset over his departure, White said he held no ill will toward the Chargers and, in fact, remained a fan.
“I have nothing bad to say about them,” he said. “I just thank them for the opportunity and giving me a chance to make my dreams come true. Just ’cause I’m not there, I don’t hate them now.”
In free agency, White found the open market to be less than wide open. He went unsigned for nearly two weeks, finally accepting his one-year deal, which guaranteed him $3 million.
He said he was surprised to not receive a more lucrative offer, particularly after a few people around him had made some bold predictions about the payday that was coming.
White appeared in all 17 regular-season games for the Eagles, finishing second on the team in tackles with 110. He had seven tackles in Philadelphia’s two playoff wins to reach the Super Bowl.
As for his former team, White said he watched in disbelief as the Chargers blew a 27-0 lead in losing their wild-card matchup last month in Jacksonville. He said he even stopped watching at one point.
“Midway through the third quarter, I started switching channels,” White said. “I knew it was over. Then my cousin was texting me saying, ‘Man, they’re coming back on the Chargers.’ I thought he was just playing around. I turned back and it was, ‘Dang, this is crazy.’ I felt bad for them.”