Bucs rookie ILB Josiah Trotter (45) stares down Joe Burrow (9) Sunday. Trotter had a record-setting afternoon.
So, how about the guy so many people whined and kvetched over who couldn’t defend the pass.
The biggest knock by the self-proclaimed sophists of the NFL draft swore on a stack of Bibles that Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht whiffed in the second round by picking downhill defender Josiah Trotter.
_What is Licht doing? They need a linebacker who can defend the pass!_
So how did Trotter do facing a guy who just may end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? How about a pick-six on the same quarterback? In his very first NFL game.
Seems like these draft sophists may want to reassess.
But that’s not all. Trotter went wilding when he wasn’t picking off Burrow. Sure, he had some rookie mistakes, but he broke Derrick Brooks’ Bucs record for 7 tackles in his first game (Mason Foster shared the record as he also had seven tackles in his debut).
Trotter finished with 10 tackles.
This news stunned Trotter as he learned this intel when reporters first gathered around his locker.
> “I’m blessed to be out there, to have the opportunity to go out there,” Trotter said. “I wish I could have done more. There is still stuff to clean up. Ultimately, we didn’t win the game.
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> “So I will continue to do more, make more plays.”
Also, there is this: Only two players the past 10 years have had a sack, an interception and five or more tackles in their NFL debuts. T.J. Watt and Trotter.
On his pick-six of Burrow, Trotter said on a very similar play he had a pick-six in practice. So when he saw his keys the Bengals showed and saw how Burrow and the receivers reacted, Trotter quickly decided to react the same way he did on his pick-six in practice and bingo, he got in the end zone, reading the play perfectly.
Trotter said that his pick-six was proof film study pays off.
> “I trusted my eyes,” Trotter said.
When the subject of his biggest knock coming out of the draft, pass defense, was brought up, Trotter simply said, “I know what I can do.”
Now, maybe, so too will Trotter’s haters.