Bucs Looking To Josiah Trotter To Change Attitude Of Teammates
May 19th, 2026
“It’s a very new day, Tae.”
A somewhat bizarre and telling answer was delivered today by a Bucs assistant coach.
Sadly, it was one that illustrates just how soft the folks at One Buc Palace believe the defense became last season.
Serious Bucs fans saw the issues. Soft zone coverage. Soft tackling. Soft pass rush. Soft, soft, soft.
Inside linebackers coach Mike Caldwell was asked what he’s looking for rookie second-round pick Josiah Trotter to bring to the defense.
Keep in mind Trotter just turned 21 years old.
“We’re hoping that it’s a mindset, a mindset for us to get back to being a physical front,” Caldwell replied. “And he’s that type of player. He’s a guy that can come downhill use his hands and he’s a physical presence inside.”
Notice how Caldwell didn’t say he’s looking for Trotter to fit in with angry, physical tone-setting beasts like Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey. Instead, Caldwell was talking about the rookie changing the culture, essentially.
One of Lavonte David’s favorite words when talking to media about the team was “mindset.” Interesting how Caldwell is looking for the Bucs to overhaul theirs.
May 19th, 2026 at 4:34 pm
Last year their mindset was to sit back in run defense, and pass coverage
And get run over by a RB, and get juked out by a receiver
Josiah Trotter attacks the ball, shoots gaps, plays with physicality
May 19th, 2026 at 4:36 pm
Folks the tape doesn’t lie.
Sirvocea Dennis played soft. Lavigne David played soft (maybe bc of his injury)
Winfield played and plays soft since his payday. Dean’s been soft. Logan Hall played soft. Hassan Reddick played soft. Braswell plays soft. Zion McCollum played soft then quit!
Tykee and Parrish were the only ones that played with an edge last year.
If I can see this in the All-22 imagine what the coaches saw!
May 19th, 2026 at 5:02 pm
This SURE smacks of desperation, banking on a rookie to “Save You”, isn’t a good look….
May 19th, 2026 at 5:08 pm
Without a leader to Blaze the path, we got what we paid for.
It seemed they were much more likely to win a sleeping contest rather than ANYTHING that involved Actual Testosterone! I wonder who inspired such a pathetic standard and WHY SO, SO MANY DEMAND SO MUCH, MUCH BETTER…
Lame Duck
May 19th, 2026 at 5:11 pm
Soft as Bowles Chips Ahoy belly. Hopefully these defensive coaches, along with fearless leader don’t ruin Bain, and Trotter before we get a real DC.
May 19th, 2026 at 5:12 pm
Timon is spot on.
They needs guys who are not looking to be popular or worrying about disrespecting someone who has not earned it.
Sapp and Brooks and Lynch never tolerated soft players.
And Joe, have you suffered a concussion? Where do you find space to place this phrase “angry, physical tone-setting beasts” in the same sentence as Calijah Kancey?
Kancey is a joke. Unreliable. Always hurt. Maybe angry at the trainers, but not on the field. The only tone he has set is don’t stand next to him on the sidelines.
Being soft is a contagious viral infection. You cannot cure it. You have to excise it.
May 19th, 2026 at 5:43 pm
ModHairKen. Yes, Kancey needs to play 17 games this season. Because when he plays, he plays like, oh, an angry, tone-setting beast.
May 19th, 2026 at 5:59 pm
I don’t think the Bucs are counting on Trotter “changing the culture”.
They could/should be counting on him to be a part of the change on D though.
May 19th, 2026 at 6:18 pm
I’m sure it had nothing to do with the walk through practices.
May 19th, 2026 at 6:41 pm
So did Bowles and the Bucs see an physical angry aggressive defense in training camp or did they turn soft once they got smacked in the mouth by DET?…..
GO BUCS
May 19th, 2026 at 6:43 pm
i don’t see people running on us this year… passing yes but running no
May 19th, 2026 at 6:45 pm
Will the hype ever stop. This guy hasn’t played a down in the NFL. He will be lucky to make it through 17 games. I hope he is ready for TEs and WRs in the slot as well as RBs like Robinson. There is nothing the Bucs can say to get me fired up about rookie players short of winning games and not going into total collapse mode for a third year.
May 19th, 2026 at 7:36 pm
I agree with the veteran who said our practices had too many “walk throughs”
And not enough reps at full speed.
We also looked SLOW last year.
May 19th, 2026 at 8:28 pm
Definitely seems like practices were too slow and soft.
Sure you wanna mitigate injuries but putting people in bubble wrap does nothing good for them. The next man up needs to be doing drills at full speed otherwise how are they prepared.
In my pro hockey days, I was on a team that ran 1:30 long practices, standing around, doing system work… which is necessary through camp and early in the year to get the system down and get on the same page… but after that the best teams were the ones who had 45 minute practices going full tilt.
Never standing still, skating, passing, shooting non stop, high tempo, high energy. Special teams, full ice like a game and battle drills.
May 19th, 2026 at 8:30 pm
I hear that the other 31 NFL teams are hiring guys with the moniker of Defensive Coordinator to get the defense motivated and prepared.
Perhaps the Glazers kids could try doing something like that????
Asking for a friend.
May 19th, 2026 at 10:06 pm
Looking to a rookie linebacker to change player attitudes by his leadership qualities sounds rediculous.
Now, if he can perform in the top 40 to 50 in pass coverage, run defense, the top 20 in pass rushing, and miss fewer than a dozen tackles as a starter, he will be a a mediocre starter while also being a huge from last season, and THAT – that could improve the attitude of his teammates, coaches and fans.
And that is really a low bar to set.
Now, if Trotter can have a Jihaad Campbell kind of first year and rate 5th in pass coverage, 37th in run defense, and 54th in pass rushing while only missing 6 tackles, attitudes all around should just be fantastic.
May 20th, 2026 at 12:00 am
Imagine needing 2 rookies to change the mindset on defense. Damning indictment on the veterans.