Can Josiah Trotter Help Stop The Slide?
July 24th, 2026
Key to turning around defense?
The arrow is not pointing up for KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles’ defense.
When Joe thinks of head coaches with defensive backgrounds, defense is never really a worry. That’s not the case with the Bucs.
Per Ben Solak of BSPN, the Bucs defense is in a three-year backslide (does Solak mean Baker Mayfield has saved Bowles’ neck?). And the way Solak sees it, if Bowles cannot turn around his defense this fall, well, Bowles will be on one of the hottest seats in the NFL come January.
So Bowles and the Bucs are putting a lot of faith in three projected rookie starters being the catalysts to springboard the Bucs back into the playoffs and saving Bowles’ gig.
In Solak’s eyes, the biggest factor will be rookie Josiah Trotter at inside linebacker.
A massive make-or-break year awaits Todd Bowles in Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers’ coach, now in his fifth season, failed to make the postseason for the first time last season. His team’s success has largely come on the back of great offenses, while the defense has lagged behind. The Buccaneers were 18th in defensive DVOA last season, 16th the year before that and 14th before that. As a defensive head coach, Bowles’ unit must be better.
After the retirement of franchise legend Lavonte David, veteran signing Alex Anzalone and Trotter must step into huge shoes in the center of the defense. Trotter is a fast and physical hitter, while Anzalone’s range has been limited as he approaches his age-32 season. The Bucs had huge coverage issues at linebacker last season, and Trotter was more of a blitzer than a dropper at Missouri. If he earns a full-time role next to Anzalone, it’ll be because of strides he makes in coverage during training camp.
Joe didn’t like reading that about Anzalone, that his range has declined since he’s on the wrong side of 30. The Bucs signed Anzalone, in part, because he could defend the pass. Bucs inside linebackers struggled with pass defense last year.
If Anzalone is slowing down (it happens to all linebackers eventually) and Trotter demonstrates he may need more seasoning, that’s not a comforting thought as the Bucs hope to rebuild the defense and return to the playoffs.
July 24th, 2026 at 7:28 am
He couldn’t be much worse than the failed SVD experiment…
July 24th, 2026 at 7:57 am
We will know soon enough…
Bullet point training camp season is nigh !
July 24th, 2026 at 8:00 am
Truth is not many LBers can stick with fast RBs coming out if the backfield. Anzalone can still cover most TEs and is able to get to the right spot in coverage. The defense needs to adjust it’s coverage scheme against the pass in the middle of the field.
When you’re playing against RBs like Gibbs and Robinson, you can just have a LBer responsible for covering them. You need a LBer and Nickel on some plays..a LBer and Safety on other plays. It’s the amount of space Bowles defense allows in the middle that is concerning. It didn’t help that Bowles was working with 2 LBers who couldn’t cover, but it’ll take more than better covering LBers to improve against those types of RBs and faster TEs. AW jr needs to be much better as well and so does Bowles.
July 24th, 2026 at 8:20 am
Bowles signed an extension before 2025, he’s signed through 2028, doubtful the Glazers want to pay Bowles and a new coach 2027 and 2028, so Bowles isn’t going anywhere, maybe after next season but he’s definitely safe for 2027
July 24th, 2026 at 8:33 am
Trotter could be Britt. Anzalone is not much of an upgrade over LVD, if any. Another season of free for all in the middle of the field. Licht did a horrible job of restocking the LB room in FA and left cornerbacks depending on the unproven young guys without depth. Praying the front 7 can get home is the Bowles’ strategy. Hasn’t worked for years. Maybe he can improve on that last in the red zone strategy. How does depending on Trotter and Rozeboom seem like a great idea? Sure looks like the slide continues Joe. I thought hope is not a strategy.
July 24th, 2026 at 8:40 am
“His team’s success has largely come on the back of great offenses, while the defense has lagged behind.”
One of the reasons I refer to Incredibly Average Todd Bowles as Incredibly Average Todd Bowles is because he’s incredibly average. The team has never been much better than mediocre under his stewardship, and in those few area where the hopes got up (6-2 start to 2025), ol’ Incredibly Average Todd Bowles made sure to get back to well below average (2-7, 3rd and 28, 4th and 14, loss to a listless going-nowhere Dolphins team, etc.) to make sure things evened out.
I can’t think of another example in the history of the league where a coach consistently went .500 over 3 years and kept his job, yet Bowles (Career 62–77 (.446), Regular season 61–74 (.452), Bucs record 35-33 (.515), Postseason 1-3 (.250)) keeps getting more chances. I simply don’t understand it.
That tells me one of a few things (posiby a combination of a few) are true about the Bucs organization:
1. The Glazers are tired of spinning through coaches and want stability even it comes at the cost of the team’s ceiling being mediocrity.
2. The Glazers don’t want a strong head coach (they fired Gruden, chose to elevate Morris and didn’t even bother to interview any other candidates in a year when both Mike Shannahan and Bill Cowher were both available.
3. The Glazers have gone Culverhouse on us and decided that they don’t care how the team performs year-to-year, so long as they’re making money (but even Culverhouse fired coaches).
4. A handful of other reasons, some of which require more assumptions so they score lower on the Occam’s Razor plausibility scale.
Whatever the reason is, you’re seeing the whole Incredibly Average Todd Bowles problem in a nutshell in the sentence I quoted above. *OF COURSE* a guy that can’t figure out a way to be better than mediocre would have “great offenses” and terrible defenses to balance things out. It’s practically the only thing he excels at.
July 24th, 2026 at 8:41 am
That drop in DVOA pretty much followed LVD’s decline
July 24th, 2026 at 8:50 am
Just because they aren’t All Pro level doesn’t mean they aren’t an improvement.
And yes, I know it’s a very sad statement.
LB play was just sooooooo bad last year
July 24th, 2026 at 9:09 am
SVD was a pretty good blitzer which was the only thing he did well last year….
interesting to see if he’ll bounce back and improve his game…kid was a 5th round pick that was injured his 1st couple years…at times he flashed but his screw ups overshadowed everything lol…
this will be an interesting camp him, braswell & morrison
GO BUCS!!!!
July 24th, 2026 at 9:11 am
BEEEJ
good point!!!!
I’ll add we still havent replaced Carlton Davis let alone Dean
GO BUCS!!!!
July 24th, 2026 at 9:17 am
Teams are going to attack the Buc’s just as they did last year. over the middle just past the D-Line.
I like the addition of Anzalone but he was never a speed guy.
Trotter is not known for his speed either. (never ran the 40).
I don’t think we added enough speed into our middle linebacking. Receivers may be running wild in the middle of the field.
Hope I am wrong on this one!
July 24th, 2026 at 9:19 am
Todd’s chair is firmly positioned on the sun, as it should be.
July 24th, 2026 at 10:07 am
Less worried about Trotter & Anzalone, and want to see what if any improvements SVD and/or Nick Jackson have made this offseason.
We’ll get as far as our depth will get us, and in all the LB talk plz remember Keionte Scott blurs the positional line as a box defenders.
Historically in the NFL, especially applying different run schemes teams used to and still do look at the nickel as a weak spot at the 2nd level. Not for us, with the talent we’ve got available to play there.
An aside, Joe when you get around to the loaf watch for the season finale, key on Ben Morrison and his behavior the closer he gets to contact and bring a barf bag.
July 24th, 2026 at 10:39 am
No way Trotter and Anzalone can be worse than LD
and SirVocea.
No way Bain can be worse than Red dick.
No way Scott can be worse than that bored guy.
July 24th, 2026 at 11:00 am
@ 813
“this will be an interesting camp him, braswell & morrison”
Oh snap.
You nailed it.
Our GM is on the spot.
Don’t worry – even if they are mediocre our “ROH” GM will re-sign and overpay them to stay in Tampa.
Gross.
July 24th, 2026 at 11:06 am
If the defense is poor again, it won’t be due to Todd Bowles. It’s the rookies, and injuries. Fans are lucky and should support a 10 year extension for the man.
July 24th, 2026 at 11:09 am
“I can’t think of another example in the history of the league where a coach consistently went .500 over 3 years and kept his job”
Think harder bro…. Or use Google.
Not sure why you keep posting this…. NFL coaching records are littered with plenty of coaches that meet that criteria. I’ve already listed some in previous posts.
July 24th, 2026 at 11:14 am
@ simple t
Please name 25 coaches who have performed as lackluster as TB and maybe I will respect your comment…
I will wait for your response.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaand go!
July 24th, 2026 at 11:22 am
25 coaches Big difference between your original claim of no examples and 25 examples. Wtf🤣
July 24th, 2026 at 11:33 am
Wrong poster same answer…. There are at least a couple currently coaching. Many more if you go back.
.500 is a VERY common range and many of the coaches the Todd super critics say are GREAT coaches are barely above . 500
July 24th, 2026 at 11:42 am
813, what is interesting is you trashing Baker while describing an underperforming rookie and a total waste of a 2nd round pick as “this will be an interesting camp him, braswell & morrison
July 24th, 2026 at 11:53 am
@ BakerFaninOREGON
Oh please!
All you little BM boyz are all the same…
Blah blah blah – BM is great.
No!
He is a mediocre (at best QB).
Those are the facts and YOU will accept them!!!!
LOL!
7
dash
10.
July 24th, 2026 at 11:55 am
There’s a lot of question marks surrounding this year’s D!!!! Answers of which are coming as soon as mid September. Won’t be long now.
July 24th, 2026 at 12:18 pm
One of the reasons that I’m having little to no faith with this season coming is Because there is No bonding between just too many parts.
Another is that Trotter isn’t known for his “coverage skills”, so there’s that.
And lastly, there is LITTLE TO NO Depth behind these Big question marks…?????
I mean, any little thing goes wrong and it cqn cascade into a FULL BLOWN DISATER, FASTER THAN YOU CAN SAY “MASTER OF DISASTERS”..
It’s so shaky. It’s built on stilts and a hurricane could hit at Any Time. Just so much against us this year AND Todd hasn’t been able to put it together in Best of times.
So….
July 24th, 2026 at 1:10 pm
100% 328
July 24th, 2026 at 1:30 pm
Marine, constantly repeating he’s mediocre at best does not make it so. Was his 2024 season mediocre? And though you’ll consider that an outlier, it certainly fits with your “at best” measurable.
July 24th, 2026 at 1:30 pm
Guys are putting too much faith in the rookies being part of a turnaround. Their impact will be minimal at best. Only Bain has a chance to seriously contribute.
July 24th, 2026 at 1:35 pm
Davenport, I get the general gist of what you’re saying and don’t disagree, but Scott should also be a contributor in the slot and as a hybrid safety/ linebacker. But yes, to rely on rookies is fool’s Gold at best.
July 24th, 2026 at 1:49 pm
“Davenport, I get the general gist of what you’re saying and don’t disagree, but Scott should also be a contributor in the slot and as a hybrid safety/ linebacker. But yes, to rely on rookies is fool’s Gold at best.”
I don’t get this sentiment for this team at all
Devin White
SMB
Dean
Edwards
Nelly
Scooter
Tristan Wirfs
Antoine Winfield
Tyler Johnson(to a degree)
Rachaad
Goedeke
Otton
Camarda
McCollum
Kancey
Mauch
Diaby
Palmer
Barton
Tykee
JMac
Bucky
Egbuka
B-Mo(kinda)
Parrish
Roberts
Tez
It’s not like this is some new territory we’re going into, in fact we’ve been doing this for about a decade at this point
July 24th, 2026 at 2:10 pm
Warren, I think what he was saying was that we keep reading about how we must hit on Bain and trotter primarily to turn around the defense. As much as any team in the league, we rely on contributions from rookies. That has been proven by our GM’S well-known affinity for draft picks. Why collect them and never give them up unless you’re going to use them and therefore rely on them. Some of us here think he has an over-reliance on draft choices which ends up being a reason why we don’t have to go after certain trades. Then you have a team like the Rams with an almost diametrically opposed strategy. Tons of trades involving tons of draft picks. It seems obvious right now who has done better with their particular strategy.
July 24th, 2026 at 2:16 pm
Davenport Says:
July 24th, 2026 at 1:30 pm
Guys are putting too much faith in the rookies being part of a turnaround. Their impact will be minimal at best. Only Bain has a chance to seriously contribute.
———–
Keep in mind a lot of rookies nowadays are pretty old and have a good amount of experience – so you can often count on them to play early, more so than previous years.
Scott, for example, will be 25-years old before the season starts. Guys like that should be able to play early as they’re physically ready to go, and have plenty of playing time.
With that said, Trotter is pretty young and doesn’t have a ton of experience. He was not the guy I wanted, but not because I don’t think he’ll end up being a good player, but just because I think he’s a poor fit for what the Bucs want in an ILB, where they need to be a coverage first LB, and that’s where Trotter really doesn’t stand out on film. I will say he’s faster than people claim, he’s no KJ Britt – that’s for certain – but there were better fits still on the board that the Bucs passed on. But, again, I’m not down on the player, Trotter looks like he will be a very good player in the NFL, but more of a traditional hard hitting run-stuffing middle LB. However, in that Bowles system, what everyone whines about, why they wanted White ran out of town, why Britt was ran out of town, why they wanted Dennis’ head on a platter was not excelling in pass coverage, and that’s where Trotter will need time to develop, if he does at all.
One thing that can’t be overlooked, however, is bloodline – and Trotter has some great genes, so maybe that accelerates the entire process. We can hope, anyways.
July 24th, 2026 at 2:23 pm
Steven007
We’ve recently counted on rookies, and they’ve stepped up. Not some new thing, and it really hasn’t been that much of a hinderance for us in the recent past and I think we got what we needed in a few of our rookies. Guys don’t even talk about Capehart here.
“He was not the guy I wanted, but not because I don’t think he’ll end up being a good player, but just because I think he’s a poor fit for what the Bucs want in an ILB, where they need to be a coverage first LB, and that’s where Trotter really doesn’t stand out on film.”
NOPE! We didn’t draft Devin White because of his coverage skills, we drafted him to be a box defender. We literally signed Anzalone for his ability to play in space i.e the Lavonte David role, Trotter is going to be our 5-6th box defender, you can quote me on that becvause it’s all over his tape, his first step is usually forward.
Trotter is the Mike and Anzalone is the Moe
July 24th, 2026 at 2:33 pm
Trotter hasn’t gotten much attention since the draft – other than the knock that he can’t cover. He may almost be as important as Bain.
July 24th, 2026 at 3:54 pm
Warren, I don’t disagree, and Rod made a good point in so far as most rookies these days aren’t very young with trotter being an obvious exception. And I also agree with the role we have for trotter versus Alex.