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One of the biggest question marks on defense for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers headed into 2024 has been figuring out what to do with lame duck outside linebacker and 2021 first-round pick Joe Tryon-Shoyinka.
Bleacher Report’s Alex Key thinks the answer is a trade, sending Tryon-Shoyinka to the Super Bowl contender San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a 2025 sixth-round pick.
“While the team doesn’t need to make any trades to reach the Super Bowl for the third time in six seasons, it could still benefit from bringing in another edge-rusher to bolster a unit dealing with several injuries,” Key wrote. “With Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos now dealing with knee injuries suffered in the preseason finale, the edge depth might be tested in the early weeks of the season. While San Francisco still has superstar defender Nick Bosa to lean on, getting a youthful talent like Joe Tryon-Shoyinka could reinforce this rotation and take it to another level.”
Tryon-Shoyinka is also an inexpensive option without a long-term commitment. He’s only scheduled to make $2.1 million in 2024 and the Buccaneers have already declined the fifth-year option on his contract.
Tryon-Shoyinka Could Play Way Into Big Money
Getting traded to the 49ers could be a great opportunity for Tryon-Shoyinka to reinvent himself in the eyes of NFL general managers and head coaches and earn a lucrative free-agent contract in 2025.
To this point, the No. 32 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft has been largely thought of as an underachiever despite being incredibly durable — he’s played in all 17 games for the Buccaneers in each of his first 3 seasons. He started a career-high 16 games in 2022, but saw that number drop to 12 games in 2023 when rookie YaYa Diaby took his role in the starting lineup.
Tryon-Shoyinka actually has 13.0 sacks through his first 3 seasons, but those numbers were put in stark contrast after Diaby, a 2023 third-round pick, led the team with 7.5 sacks as a rookie despite playing in less than half of Tampa Bay’s defensive snaps.
To put it in financial terms, Diaby is playing on a 4-year, $5.6 million contract that will pay him $998,424 in 2024 and approximately $1.2 million in 2025. If he continues his rookie season success, it would essentially mean the Buccaneers were getting double the production of Tryon-Shoyinka at half the price.
In the world of NFL number crunchers, that’s a dream scenario.
Bucs May Have Found JTS Replacement in ’24 Draft
The Buccaneers selected Alabama edge rusher Chris Braswell in the second round (No. 57 overall) of the 2024 draft in another clear sign they’re moving on from Tryon-Shoyinka.
Braswell, 6-foot-3 and 251 pounds, led Alabama with 3 forced fumbles to go with 42 tackles, 10.5 TFL, 8.0 sacks. He also returned an interception for a touchdown and blocked a kick.
If Braswell can crack the starting lineup for the Buccaneers at some point in 2024, there could very well be three players in their first or second season on the defensive front along with first-round pick Calijah Kancey at defensive tackle and Diaby.
Rookie Tykee Smith, a third-round pick out of Georgia, appears to have already earned the starting spot at nickelback. On offense, two rookies have earned starting spots with wide receiver Jalen McMillan and 2024 first-round pick Graham Barton at center.
