Is Buccaneers' Rookie LB Josiah Trotter Already Elite?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafted linebacker Josiah Trotter this season hoping that he’d turn into a star.

He might already be one.

Only four players in the NFL have 50 or more tackles (Trotter has 62, good for seventh in the NFL), three or more tackles for loss (Trotter has three) and at least one sack and interception (Trotter has one of each.)

That’s pretty good, isn’t it? It's even better considering Trotter missed a game earlier in the season with a shoulder injury. 

In four of the six games Trotter's played, he's had 10 or more tackles, and he's averaging more than 10 per game. Had he met that average in the game he missed (Sept. 27 against the Minnesota Vikings), he'd be second in the league behind only Alex Singleton of the Denver Broncos. The six players ahead of Trotter have all played in seven games. 

It all started in Trotter's regular season debut. 

Against the Cincinatti Bengals on the road, Trotter returned an interception 38 yards for a touchdown, and that was hardly all he did. 

By the time it was all over, Trotter became the first rookie in NFL history to end his debut with 10 or more tackles, a sack and a pick-six in their NFL debut, more than justifying Tampa's investment. 

The Bucs liked Trotter a lot, which is why they took him in the second round. He was one of the youngest players in the draft, having turned 21 earlier in April.

Although Trotter was quite young and fairly inexperienced-- he only played three college football seasons and missed one due to injury,-- the fact that is dad was a multi-time All-Pro at the same position makes up for a lot of that inexperience.

Josiah's father, Jeremiah Trotter, spent 11 seasons in the NFL, and although eight of them were with the Philadelphia Eagles, one of them was with the Buccaneers. 

Not quite the same as Derrick Brooks or Ronde Barber's son playing for the Bucs, but still a neat nugget. 

Jeremiah Trotter played against Aaron Rodgers in 2006, and when Rodgers got the chance to play against Josiah earlier this month, he made sure to let the younger Trotter know that he had played against his dad. 

That moment may have made the 42-year-old Rodgers feel old, and might have made Trotter, who is half Rodgers' age, feel that he had arrived.