During his rookie debut for the Buccaneers, Josiah Trotter put the NFL on notice. He recorded a pick-six of Joe Burrow (38-yard return), in addition to a team-high 10 tackles, including two for a loss, and a sack. He became the first player in NFL lore to record a pick-six and a sack in his NFL debut. Trotter joined T.J. Watt as the only two players in league annals over the past 10 seasons with a sack, an interception and five-plus tackles in their debut. Trotter is the only player in franchise history with a pick-six in his debut and the young linebacker attributed his success against the Bengals to his cerebral approach to the game.
"I think my IQ to start and just being ahead of the game," said Trotter on the Players’ Table Show. "I have been blessed to have my dad and brother help me growing up seeing things and having the instincts that I have. I think playing linebacker, you have to have instincts. That is the biggest thing to be able to play that position compared to most. I think with my instincts, my IQ and being able to play off of that and then just my physical nature. To be able to be 240 and to not only come downhill, but to slip blocks and knowing when to slip or if I need to stuff a hole, or if I have to take on a fullback, you know, I think that is just lunch money right there."
Trotter prides himself on his physicality on the field, which is reminiscent of the bygone days of smash-mouth football when power rushing attacks were the craze. He was selected in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft out of Missouri to solidify the middle of the Bucs' defense. Trotter wore the green dot as the Mike linebacker in the Tigers' 4-2-5 base scheme and landed in Tampa Bay, a place that he believed would maximize his versatility.
"Not only just the defensive scheme that they have but just the different ways that I knew they would be able to use me and different things that they saw in my game and the things that they knew could also be strengths for me that other people saw as weaknesses," described Trotter. "I just think how they saw my game and how they knew me as a person and as an athlete and knowing me as a character person. My position coach knowing me since I was young, and not only who I am as a player and person but my work ethic."
The marriage proved mutually beneficial in Week One as Trotter tore up the stat sheet and etched his name in Bucs' recordbooks as a rookie.
