{"id":245581,"date":"2026-04-25T01:27:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T01:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/245581\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T01:27:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T01:27:33","slug":"tampa-bay-buccaneers-select-josiah-trotter-with-46th-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/245581\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Buccaneers Select Josiah Trotter with 46th Pick"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Tampa\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Josiah Trotter did not receive many second round grades from top draft analysts.<\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> have selected Josiah Trotter with the 46th pick of the NFL Draft. Linebacker has been a massive need<\/a> for the Buccaneers after Lavonte David<\/a> retired during the offseason. The team signed Alex Anzalone<\/a> during free agency; however, they needed another option to be a starter as well.<\/p>\n

Trotter is the son of former NFL<\/a> linebacker and pro bowler Jeremiah Trotter<\/a>. Jeremiah totaled 914 tackles, 9 interceptions, and 12.5 sacks in his 11 year NFL career.<\/p>\n

Josiah Trotter<\/a> only played two seasons of college football but showcased a lot of improvement in his two seasons. He played his freshman year at West Virginia, where he tallied 92 combined tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks, and an interception. He transferred to Missouri for the 2025 season. Last year, he produced 84 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, and two sacks.<\/p>\n

The Second Round Seems Like a Reach for Trotter\"Tampa\"Tampa<\/p>\n

GettyNFL Draft Analysts saw Trotter closer to a third round pick.<\/p>\n

The Buccaneers are higher on Trotter than other draft analysts, who saw him as more of a third-round draft pick. PFF ranked<\/a> him as the 66th best prospect in the draft, so they thought he would go early in the third round. They graded<\/a> him positively in run defense, where he received a 89.2 grade, and as a pass rusher, where he received a 81.6 grade. Trotter faltered in coverage only receiving a 47.9 grade.<\/p>\n

PFF said, \u201cTrotter is a physical, downhill linebacker best suited for a 3-4 scheme. He must improve in coverage and play recognition to become a consistent starter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given the Buccaneers and head coach Todd Bowles operate under a 3-4 scheme, that is great news, and it\u2019s possible he will operate in more of an edge role as a linebacker while Anzalone is mainly a coverage linebacker.<\/p>\n

Dane Brugler of the Athletic<\/a> agrees with PFF about their third round grade. He ranked him as the sixth best linebacker in the NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

Brugler said, \u201cTrotter doesn\u2019t have playmaking awareness in coverage (at least, not yet), but his run instincts and take-on skills are among the best in this draft class. He looks like a starting NFL Mike.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josiah Trotter\u2019s Athletic Profile\"Tampa\"Tampa<\/p>\n

GettyJosiah Trotter did not test at the NFL Combine or his pro day.<\/p>\n

Although Trotter did not test at either the NFL Combine or his pro day at Missouri, his composite weights and measurements indicate a decent athlete. He\u2019s a little about 6\u20191\u201d in terms of height and weighs between 237 and 240 pounds. He has about 10\u201d hands, just above 32\u201d arms, and a wingspan just above 77\u201d. NFL Next Gen Stats<\/a> gives a score of 7 in athleticism based on those measurements, indicating a positive profile for a linebacker.<\/p>\n

With Trotter now in the fold, we\u2019ll see how he lines up as a linebacker, but the Buccaneers may not be done addressing that position as they may need a player who is more of a coverage specialist for their defense to partner with Anzalone.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tChris Lewis<\/a> is a freelance sports writer based in Gig Harbor, Washington. He focuses on NFL, MLB (with an emphasis on the Mariners), and professional golf. More about Chris Lewis<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Josiah Trotter did not receive many second round grades from top draft analysts. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-245581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-tampa","9":"tag-tampa-headlines","10":"tag-tampa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}