Sports Illustrated included the Buccaneers linebacker Josiah Trotter among 10 NFL rookies who turned heads with their Week 1 debuts after Trotter put together one of the best performances of any rookie in the league against the Cincinnati Bengals. Trotter finished his first NFL game with a team-high 10 tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and a 38-yard pick-six of Joe Burrow. He played 58 of Tampa Bay's 64 defensive snaps after earning the starting linebacker job alongside Alex Anzalone during the preseason.
Trotter recorded Tampa Bay's only sack of the game on a third down before making an even bigger play on Cincinnati's next possession. He showed pressure in the A gap before dropping into coverage, read Burrow's eyes, and jumped a pass intended
for Andrei Iosivas. Trotter returned it 38 yards for a touchdown, cutting Cincinnati's lead to 27-20 and putting Tampa Bay back into the game. The play was especially notable considering coverage was one of the areas questioned in Trotter's game coming out of Missouri. His ability against the run was already well established, but whether he could hold up consistently in coverage at the NFL level was something he needed to show.
The debut also put Trotter in rare company as he became the first player in NFL history to record both a sack and a pick-six in his first career game. He also joined T.J. Watt as the only players over the past 10 seasons to record a sack, an interception, and at least five tackles in their NFL debuts. Todd Bowles acknowledged afterward that there are areas Trotter needs to clean up, but the Bucs gave their second-round pick a major role immediately, and the return on investment could be the next great linebacker of a long lineage in Tampa Bay.
This article originally appeared on Bucs Wire: Josiah Trotter named in top 10 rookies turning heads
