In 2021, fresh off their win in Super Bowl 55, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers held the final pick in the first round of that year's NFL Draft. With that pick, they selected Washington's Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, who they hoped would come in and bolster their linebacker room.
Unfortunately, that never panned out. Tryon-Shoyinka regressed in each of his four years with the Buccaneers and by the time his rookie deal had concluded, he hit free agency and the two sides moved on for good.
The former first-rounder first tried to make it work in Cleveland but only spent half a season there before landing in Chicago for the remainder of the 2025 campaign. He then has tried to make it work with a fourth team, signing with the Eagles this summer.
Joe Tryon-Shiyonka's Eagles stint won't last long
Unfortunately for Tryon-Shiyonka, he might not be in Philadelphia much longer. According to Anthony Miller of Inside The Iggles, the Eagles' addition of A.J. Epenesa likely means that Tryon-Shiyonka will be on the outside looking in when it comes to state of the linebacker position in Philly.
"One of the major storylines of the week was the absence of edge rusher Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, as he was the only player not to be there. With many people wondering what happened to him, that mystery might have been solved by what the team did.
"Philly signed edge rusher A.J. Epenesa to a new deal to join the team. To top it off, it appears that Epenesa will be wearing number 57, the same number as Tryon-Shoyinka," Miller wrote.
"All the signs have been there that Tryon-Shoyinka was unlikely to make the roster. He was predicted throughout the offseason as one of the free agent signings that would most likely not make the team."
We see players drafted in the first-round flame out all the time in the NFL. It happens. Tryon-Shiyonka isn't the first player to be in this position and he won't be the last. While it's surprising to see it happen to a guy that was hyped up after getting drafted by Tampa, the writing was on the wall during his time in a Bucs uniform.
He regressed in each of his four years and just never looked like the player the Buccaneers had expected him to be when they spent a first-rounder on him. The fact that he hasn't been able to stick around with any of his other teams means that it wasn't just a Buccaneers' problem. Sometimes a change of scenery can do wonders for a player but that clearly wasn't the case here.
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