It didn’t take too many preseason snaps to see that Bucs’ first-round pick Joe Tryon-Shoyinka was bursting with potential. As the rookie’s role has grown this season, that potential has become even more obvious. Tryon-Shoyinka picked up a pair of sacks in his second career start, working in place of Jason Pierre-Paul at New England in Week 4. It seemed a breakout was on the horizon, but then his role diminished again.

Pierre-Paul returned in Week 5, and Tryon-Shoyinka went back to a supplementary role. Despite the ineffectiveness of the veteran edge rusher, Tryon-Shoyinka only surpassed 19 snaps once – in a blowout win over Chicago. But on Monday night, the University of Washington product was back as a feature contributor. Looking for a pass rush spark with Vita Vea out, defensive coordinator Todd Bowles unleashed Tryon-Shoyinka as a chess piece rusher.

On Monday night, Tryon-Shoyinka moved all around the Bucs defensive front. He played a couple snaps as a hand down interior rusher, a couple snaps as an off-ball rover and even more snaps at each edge rusher spot. Heading into the game, Tryon-Shoyinka had dropped into coverage on almost 15 percent of his snaps, with pretty dismal results. But against the Giants, the first-rounder played 29 snaps and didn’t drop into coverage once. Instead, Bowles had him on the attack from the outset.

Early in the game it was clear Tryon-Shoyinka was going to be a problem. He erupted through the line on an off-ball alignment to pressure Daniel Jones into a hasty and errant third down throw. Sean Murphy-Bunting was flagged for pass interference, but Tryon-Shoyinka’s elite closing speed did exactly what Bowles intended it to do.

All season long, Bowles has relied on Tryon-Shoyinka’s athleticism to make plays. That’s a big reason why Bowles has loved dropping him into coverage. There is no question Tryon-Shoyinka is a great athlete, but coverage movement requires a lot more nuance as you respond to what other players are doing. On Monday night, Bowles had Tryon-Shoyinka moving forward in attack mode. That’s where he’s at his best.

A few plays later on the Giants’ opening drive, Tryon-Shoyinka again wreaked havoc. Lining up as a 3-technique, the rookie noticed Jones rolling out to his right. As Jones scanned his options, there was Tryon-Shoyinka, bursting across the field, long arms raised to force a throwaway. The Giants had to settle for a field goal as a result of the third down failure.

After watching Tryon-Shoyinka for 10 games, I can honestly say he’s in the top percentile for movement ability amongst all defensive linemen in the NFL. His lateral movement and change-of-direction is stunning. The transformation in his body and training he did in his year away from college football is incredible. The lateral cut on the tackle-end twist above is jaw-dropping. Even if the Giants did a better job of passing it off, there just aren’t many guards who can match that type of athleticism. It’s a free run at the quarterback, but it’s bought and paid for because Tryon-Shoyinka is a special athlete.

But not all Tryon-Shoyinka’s pressures were unblocked either. He made a number of quality plays to beat opposing linemen with his pass rush skill. On the play above, Tryon-Shoyinka is a crasher on another T-E twist. He barrels into the left guard, taking him back into the tackle. This frees up Shaq Barrett to loop inside for a hit on Jones. But Tryon-Shoyinka also wins, nearly getting a strip-sack. His long arm causes the ball to flutter out of Jones’ hand. If the Bucs hadn’t been playing soft, prevent coverage in the final seconds of the half, this pass could have been intercepted.

Tryon-Shoyinka just got better as the game went on. With the Giants in pass-heavy mode, his full arsenal was unleashed. The 22-year old hit a nasty stab-snatch-swim combo to beat New York’s left guard clean. The speed to close space to Jones here is impressive. Obviously you’d like to see Tryon-Shoyinka finish the job, but the process here is outstanding and forces another incompletion.

One of the big reasons I’ve wanted to see Tryon-Shoyinka play more snaps is that his elite pass rush skill can’t be fully unlocked until he develops a process against each opponent. He needs reps to figure out what works against certain opponents in the NFL. In this game, Tryon-Shoyinka got his highest number of pass rush snaps (29, which is 50 percent) since his two starts in Weeks 3-4. The result was a dominant fourth quarter once he figured out what worked against the Giants offensive line.

For good measure, here’s one of Tryon-Shoyinka’s last plays of the game. Another stab, but this time he converts it to a rip move to get under the guard. The lineman handles the rush better than the last one, but Tryon-Shoyinka still flashes across Jones’ face and forces the hasty check-down.

Bowles is the blitz-heaviest defensive play-caller in the NFL. That’s no secret. But it hasn’t been as effective for the Bucs this season as in years past. Tryon-Shoyinka is the key to unlocking Tampa Bay’s pass rush. He can line up all over the front, he’s a masterful chess piece for Bowles, he’s outstanding at running games from any alignment and he can win one-on-one too. If you want to blitz, he can help. If you want to rush four, he can line up inside or outside and win. Tryon-Shoyinka is the perfect attack piece for Bowles if the defensive coordinator will simply play him more.

Therein lies the concern. I won’t disparage Pierre-Paul by posting the host of hard-to-watch reps from the veteran on Monday night. He’s playing through immense pain right now and gutting it out for the team. I respect the heck out of that. Pierre-Paul is a warrior.

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

But there is no way any NFL coach can watch Monday night’s tape and believe he’s a better option than Tryon-Shoyinka right now. That shouldn’t be a surprise. Pierre-Paul has a torn rotator cuff and a fractured finger, while Tryon-Shoyinka is one of the most exciting rookies in the NFL. In 159 pass rush snaps this season, the JTS has 21 pressures per PFF. In 282 reps, Pierre-Paul has 17 pressures. The 12-year veteran is having his worst-graded season by far from PFF, and the tape backs it up.

It isn’t a fair fight right now. Pierre-Paul’s play has declined to the point of being detrimental to the Bucs defense. Yet, there he was, out-snapping even Shaq Barrett on Monday night. The madness has to stop.

Tryon-Shoyinka must begin to replace a healthy portion of Pierre-Paul’s snaps. That will help keep the elder pass rusher more fresh for the reps he does get, while also giving Tryon-Shoyinka more opportunities to produce. After Monday night, the Bucs coaching staff should have no doubt about how to proceed.