Bucs OLB Joe Tryon-Shoyinka – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

When outside linebacker Shaq Barrett tore his achilles and ended his season in Week 8, a lot of the onus fell on second-year edge rusher Joe Tryon-Shoyinka.

As their second outside linebacker, the Bucs are relying heavily on Tryon-Shoyinka to pick up the slack that is left by Barrett, who is the the team’s single-season leader in sacks. With a contingency of Anthony Nelson, Carl Nassib and Genard Avery sharing reps on one side of the line, JTS won’t be off the field much. He shouldn’t be either, considering his talent could surpass even a a healthy Barrett.

After a slow start to a season where he’s had high expectations, Tryon-Shoyinka has picked it up as of late. He’s recorded a sack in two of the last three games and had another sack negated because of a questionable offsides penalty.  Is this a sign of things to come? It just might be.

Coaches Adress The Play Of Tryon-Shoyinka

“I thought he stepped up when his number was called, you know?” Bucs co-defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers said. “We’ve been kind of waiting for Joe to take that next step because he has all the tools – speed, athleticism, power – so it was good to see him get off the stick pretty [well]. And the thing is, if you look at the tape, [we] felt like he left a couple out there, so that was really good to see.”

Bucs OLB Joe Tryon-Shoyinka – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Tryon-Shoyinka now had 3.5 sacks to go with 22 tackles, five tackles for loss, seven quarterback hits and one pass breakup. The way he’s played lately, though, he might be on the cusp of a signature game down the stretch.

“I’m waiting on it,” fellow co-defensive coordinator Larry Foote said. “I keep telling him, ‘Give me that break out game. Four sacks or something crazy – be player of the week.’ But, he’s playing hard, he’s learning. I always tell people, he didn’t play a lot of college football, so this is really only his second year as a starter playing college and pro. So, the arrow’s pointing up, but he’s got to keep going. We called Shaq [Barrett] down, so we’re expecting big plays from him.”