Larry Foote “Jealous” Of Josiah Trotter
September 18th, 2026
Bucs assistant envious.
The Bucs have hit a drought this decade when it comes to impactful defensive rookies.
Who was the last defensive rookie who showed right off the bat he can hang in this league? Jacob Parrish, maybe? But that seems a stretch.
Calijah Kancey had a quarterback hit in his debut in 2023, and promptly got hurt.
Joe thinks the last defensive rookie who made an instant impact was Antoine Winfield. Well, that was until last Sunday. Inside linebacker Josiah Trotter blew up the Bucs’ record books by leading the team in tackles (10) while adding a sack and a pick-six.
Now *that* is impact! So much so that Bucs outside linebackers coach Larry Foote confessed yesterday he’s a bit jealous of Trotter.
“Since he’s been here, he already ascended,” Foote bragged on Trotter. “I’m not surprised. [I’m] a little jealous.
“I played almost 13 years, and I hadn’t scored during my career, and he gets it [in his] first game.”
So what makes Trotter so good? Well, Foote said mentally, Trotter is absolutely locked in.
“He’s a serious player mentally and physically,” Foote said. “He’s about his business. I’m not surprised. We’ve been seeing it since training camp, him making plays.”
KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles absolutely nailed it on Trotter. During underwear football, folks were beginning to wonder why Trotter seemed invisible, whereas fellow rookies Rueben Bain and Ted Hurst were making plays daily, multiple plays.
Bowles cautioned the local pen and mic club that when the pads would come on, Trotter would show up. And boy, did he ever. That defense was totally different when Trotter was on the field.
Now that the rest of the NFL knows who Trotter is, and teams now have NFL film on him, the key is how Trotter counters what offenses throw at him.
Joe thinks it is fair to suggest that after Trotter dominated last week in Cincinnati, Browns coach Todd Monken has made Trotter a marked man this week in meetings in Cleveland.
September 18th, 2026 at 6:00 am
Well…they know they need to block him. That doesn’t mean they necessarily can.
September 18th, 2026 at 6:38 am
Example of good coaching too? Or naaaa?
September 18th, 2026 at 7:51 am
Yeah football is a game of counters, but it always comes back to you play me I play you and someone will outplay the other. Yes teams will counter him now and he will adjust and counter back. He will be fine but like Bain he is a rookie. However granted his curve may be quicker.
September 18th, 2026 at 7:55 am
Why would they bother going after Trotter when you Anazalone to pick on
September 18th, 2026 at 8:11 am
Well maybe we finally have a player on defense that other teams will fear. Now,
We need one more because nobody fears anyone else on this defense.
September 18th, 2026 at 8:22 am
Agree with Sheen, if anything, they will go away from Trotter and go to the player Anzalone is covering until he can prove that is a bad idea. Hope he does this Sun.
September 18th, 2026 at 8:31 am
Name a Buccaneer with a more impressive debut?
September 18th, 2026 at 8:34 am
Trotter, who played great, had three solo tackles and seven assists. He was always around the ball. Great start to his NFL career.
That said, I’ve always been leery of the “assist” tackle.
Did one guy get to the ball carrier first and the second guy kinda pile on?
Did the second guy do most of the heavy lifting after the first had him by the ankle? Did two guys hit him at the same time?
I say, lose the word “assist” and replace it with a 1 and 1/2 a tackle where needed.
Whoever does the heavy lifting should be credited with a full tackle, the pile on guy gets 1/2 a tackle, and two guys who get there at the same time should get 1/2 tackle each.
Keep “solo” tackles, but it’s still a single 1 tackle with no others getting credit.
Under this set of rules, the guy who does the heavy lifting, heavy dropping so to speak, never gets screwed by some guy who gets there late and finishes off a ball carrier who mostly likely would have gone down anyway.
September 18th, 2026 at 8:41 am
See Spot run.
Run, run, run.
The boy ran fast.
Fast, fast, fast.
(These lewd and lascivious statements have been auto-sent to joebucsfsn moderation. We can’t have that kinda talk around here).
BTW—I sent you Joe’s several WordPress options to mitigate this most annoying issue. Sent them both here and email. But I never heard back)
September 18th, 2026 at 8:50 am
This should be a fun and interesting game to watch. Mayfield eeds to play smart. Revenge can be a distraction, so focusing on protecting the football is a priority after last week’s debacle.
Keeping the Bucs healthy this year will help them win their division and hopefully more noise in the playoffs.
September 18th, 2026 at 9:29 am
We may finally be getting a defense with a bunch of smart players back there. Trotter, AWJ, Tykee, Parrish, Bain and others. Not too sure about Zyon. A little bit of brain power goes a long way instead of depending entirely on physical talent (see Devin White). A few of the old vets like A’Shawn and even Anzalone help too. We’ll know in another game or two what kind of defense we have. The fumbles made a total mess of the game plan. If Bowles doesn’t figure out how to plug that gaping hole in the middle of the field, it is going to be more of the same old, same old however. It’s a fairly encouraging start. GO BUCS!!!
September 18th, 2026 at 12:11 pm
Anzalone is a resilient linebacker, and more than likely will respond with a good game this week. As for Trotter I’m happy he had a great game, now he needs to do it every week and be consistent. I wasn’t thrilled when we drafted him but if he proves to be great I would love and gladly eat crow. It’s going to take time for me to trust the kid because I don’t trust Bowles system.
September 18th, 2026 at 4:43 pm
My favorite player.
September 18th, 2026 at 8:16 pm
Absolutely Joe. I look forward to seeing how he does from game to game now that his name is gaining recognition. Last thumper we had was the 1st rd of Jordan whitehead. Glad we got another one. Let’s go Bucs. Funny how Bowles knew but the fans was screaming bad pick.
September 18th, 2026 at 10:24 pm
Too bad Monk chose the sad sack Browns, now there’s a chance his head coaching career ends almost as soon as it started. I wish he had had the chance to be our OC. Would’ve been better than the last one. Maybe we trade Baker and the moisty boyyz to them for a 3rd round pick.
September 18th, 2026 at 10:29 pm
Trotter gonna be tired Sunday trying to do his job and cover for Anzolonely
September 18th, 2026 at 10:30 pm
I don’t think Jacob Parrish is a stretch at all.
For the first half of the season last year- it was looking like the Bucs could have had both the OROY (Ebuka) and the DROY (Parrish).
Obviously their play tailed off but Parrish made an instant impact, though not on the same level as Trotter’s record setting game 1.