Buccaneers: Reality check with Joe Tryon-Shoyinka

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their fans had huge expectations for rookie first-round pick Joe Tryon-Shoyinka in training camp, and especially after the preseason. Now, it’s time for a reality check for the Buccaneers as it pertains to Tryon-Shoyinka, or at the very least time to temper some expectations.

Coming into this year’s Draft, Tryon-Shoyinka was seen as a bit of a raw prospect and a project, primarily due to him opting out of the 2020 season at the University of Washington. He was seen as a player that needed to develop pass-rushing skills at the NFL level, and wouldn’t be able to rely on pure speed bursting off the snap and simply run around NFL tackles. During the preseason, the Buccaneers rookie was able to do just that.

As a result, the excitement for the rookie, and expectations, were sky-high. You would think he was the second coming of Lawrence Taylor the way he looked and the way people were talking. However, it’s easy to overreact in the preseason, especially as it pertains to rookies due to the excitement of seeing them for the first time. Tryon-Shoyinka, as a first-round pick, was supposed to look dominant against backups. That should be normal. What would be more concerning, is if he did not. While overreacting to preseason play is natural, poor performances tend to speak louder than dominant ones.

The thing is, while his initial first step off the snap was, and is, something to behold, it was clear he was able to simply use god-given speed off the edge to beat roster-bubble/backup, and let’s just it for what it is, inferior tackles. Now that he’s arrived at the show, it’s patently obvious that there’s a reality check to be had.

Joe Tryon-Shoyinka is a great football player, and will only get better. It’s clear that the team believes in him, and wants to get him on the field based on the different packages and positions they have him in. However, we need to have patience and give him time before anointing him the next Warren Sapp, Lee Roy Selmon, or even Chidi Ahanotu. He’ll get better, but it won’t happen overnight. As far as the rest of the pass-rush goes, that needs to get better overnight for everyone’s sake.