Gets noticed.

When you go beasting on one of the NFL’s premier quarterbacks in a very popular, old-school division, you will get noticed.

And so Bucs rookie linebacker Josiah Trotter is starting to catch national buzz for his performance in Graeterville along on the banks of the Ohio River on Sunday.

(For the uninitiated: Graeter’s of Cincinnati is supposed to be world-class ice cream that Kay Adams hypes. Joe tried it over the weekend. Twice. Ruling: It’s a seven. Joe tried two different flavors, including their best seller, black raspberry chip. It didn’t have much flavor BUT the chocolate chips were instead huge chunks and the chocolate was exquisite!)

Trotter nearly saved the game for the Bucs all by himself. He led the team with 10 tackles, sacked Joe Burrow once and had a pick-six on Burrow.

It was enough for Ryan Wilson of CBS to take notice and proclaim Trotter will be terrorizing NFL offenses for some time.

Tampa Bay expected its high draft picks to make game-changing plays; it just didn’t expect Trotter to be the one making them all. He led the Bucs with 11 tackles, had their only sack, added two tackles for loss and a pass breakup, then stepped in front of a Joe Burrow pass for a 38-yard pick-six.

Interceptions for touchdowns aren’t sustainable, but here’s the good news: Trotter’s day wasn’t dependent on that one play. He played 58 snaps, had double-digit tackles, was ever-present in the offensive backfield and his impact as a blitzer told us a lot about how coach Todd Bowles views him.

Trotter broke a Bucs record for most tackles in an NFL debut previously held by Derrick Brooks and Mason Foster. If a rookie in his first game outdoes Brooks, color Joe very impressed.

And hey, Foster was no slouch. He had a nice little career. Started on a playoff team (Washington), but he wasn’t good enough for lousy Lovie Smith.

Even though the Bucs lost, watching the play of Ted Hurst and Trotter and the way they played in the Queen City, sure has Joe stoked for the future.

With that Josiah Trotter touchdown, Joe Burrow has now thrown a pick-six in four of his past six games. #Bengals #Buccaneerspic.twitter.com/CyAWKcd3i2

— John Breech (@johnbreech) September 13, 2026