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“Now The Real Fun Starts” September 9th, 2026Everyone at One Buc Palace, it seems, has been wowed by how rookie inside linebacker Josiah Trotter opened eyes in practice with physical play and a dawg mentality. Baker Mayfield even called Trotter an as*hole recently. Today, new Bucs inside linebacker and team captain Alex Anzalone, the March free agent signing, talked about the other side of Trotter, the cerebral and steady player. “I think that the biggest thing for him is consistency,” Anzalone said of Trotter. “We do have a defense that does put a lot on a guy like him. At the linebacker position we do different things and he’s stepped up to the plate, and now we just have to see where he takes it. Now the real fun starts.” Anzalone is right. The hype and fantasy for the Bucs defense gets real in a hurry against the high-octane Bengals offense on Sunday. Trotter is going to flash, Joe believes, but it’s that consistency Anzalone references that’s most important. If Trotter and fellow rookie starters Rueben Bain and Keionte Scott can be consistent, the Bucs defense should be much improved.