The Tampa Bay Buccaneers don’t have time to wait on anyone at this point — it’s a team collectively playing for its future with a head coach on the hot seat, a front office feeling more and more pressure and an ownership group that was just publicly insulted by the starting quarterback.
That’s why, if you can play, you’re probably going to be on the field, and why Bleacher Report’s Moe Moton put rookie inside linebacker and 2nd-round pick Josiah Trotter at the top of his list of rookies who could be Day 1 starters in 2026.
“The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may start a new inside linebacker tandem in the upcoming season,” Moton wrote. “Last year, Lavonte David and SirVocea Dennis manned those positions. The former retired, and the latter has competition for the other spot. The Buccaneers signed linebacker Alex Anzalone to a two-year, $17 million deal. He’ll likely start. The club selected Josiah Trotter in the second round of the draft. Of course, Trotter has pro linebacker bloodlines. He’s the son of 12-year linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, though the 21-year-old made a name for himself on the collegiate level … if he’s able to showcase his ability to handle coverage assignments, the rookie will push Dennis and beat out free-agent acquisition Christian Rozeboom for a starting role.”
Dennis started 16 games in 2025 — his 1st season as a full-time starter — but struggled so much it’s hard to see him back in that same role in 2026.
Trotter signed a 4-year, $10.9 million rookie contract.
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There is nothing to indicate the Buccaneers don’t want a completely clean slate at inside linebacker in 2026 — something made crystal-clear by the franchise since the retirement of franchise legend Lavonte David in March.
Since David decided to retire after 14 seasons, the Buccaneers not only went out and signed a pair of starters at inside linebacker in Alex Anzalone and Christian Rozeboom, but also drafted another inside linebacker in the 2nd round with Missouri’s Josiah Trotter.
All of those things point to the Buccaneers moving on from Dennis, who finally overcame injury issues that had dogged him through his 1st 2 seasons to start 16 games in 2025, during which his struggles in pass coverage became a problem for the entire defense.
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The Buccaneers received a rare, A+ grade from The Athletic’s Daniel Popper for signing Anzalone to a 2-year, $17 million contract.
“Anzalone is fast, flexible, and fluid,” Popper wrote. “He is slippery when evading blockers, especially as a blitzer … Anzalone is also a versatile coverage player. The one knock on his game is a slight lack of physicality as a run defender. But this is an excellent value deal for the Bucs at a position of need.”
Trotter could very well be the linebacker of the future for the Buccaneers, if he’s not the linebacker of the present in 2026. There’s a chance he could displace Rozeboom in the starting lineup sooner rather than later.
“At 6-foot-2 and 237 pounds, Trotter is a downhill, instinctive player who rarely misses tackles and is a very physical run defender,” ESPN’s Jenna Laine wrote in April. “Trotter has only two years of experience playing college football (he just turned 21 two weeks ago), and he suffered a knee injury that required surgery at the end of 2025. He also missed his freshman season at West Virginia in 2023 with a torn ACL.”
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