OLB Tryon-Shoyinka ‘needs to take a step up,’ GM Licht says
TAMPA— Every time outside linebacker Joe Tryon-Shoyinka misses a quarterback on a pass rush, it looks more and more like the Tampa Bay Bucs may have missed on their first-round pick in 2021.
Tryon-Shoyinka emerged as a starter last season but registered the same 4 ½ sacks he had as a rookie.
“Joe has had some flashes, he’s had some good games,” general manager Jason Licht said. “He’s shown us why we took him in the first round, but he knows he needs to take a take a step up. He needs to step it up this year, and we’re confident that he will.”
Tryon-Shoyinka was back in the starting lineup for the first day of training camp Wednesday and lined up opposite Shaquil Barrett, who missed eight games with a torn Achilles last season.
Tryon-Shoyinka, 6-5 and 259 pounds, is one of the more athletic and physically imposing players on the Bucs’ roster, with a quick first step that routinely beats offensive linemen off the snap count.
But while Tryon-Shoyinka has applied many pressures, coach Todd Bowles said, he’s had trouble getting quarterbacks to the ground.
“Joe has to finish that top of the rush,” Bowles said. “He beats linemen, and he either slips down or falls off the quarterback because he’s launching too early and not running through the quarterback. He has to take those extra two steps. He left a lot of sacks out there; not that he didn’t get back there, but he didn’t finish the play.
“Finishing at the top of the rush is just as important as beating the guy off the line of scrimmage. Me and Joe have talked about this, and he understands that and he’s working towards that, and that’s what we need to teach him.”
The Bucs drafted two other outside linebackers who could challenge Tryon-Shoyinka for playing time: Louisville’s YaYa Diaby and Eastern Michigan’s Jose Ramirez. Tryon-Shoyinka is aware of what he needs to improve this year.
“Man, it’s just mental discipline,” Tryon-Shoyinka said at minicamp. “You’ve just got to have that willpower to finish. Being in position isn’t enough. You want to make those plays. You’re going to rewind those plays that you missed and be sick just thinking about what could’ve been. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to move on and just try to improve, and that’s all I’m going to do.”