The Bucs have released their first official depth chart of the 2026 regular season.
This comes just days prior to the 2026 season opener at Cincinnati against Joe Burrow and the Bengals.
And it comes with one big change that everyone was anticipating.
Bucs Name Josiah Trotter Starting MLB
When Tampa Bay released its preseason depth chart a month ago it still listed SirVocea Dennis as the team’s starter at inside linebacker next to newcomer Alex Anzalone. Dennis, who is entering his fourth year in Todd Bowles’ scheme, started every game at middle linebacker last season but his play was average at best.
That’s why the team invested its second-round pick in Josiah Trotter, a bigger, more physical inside linebacker at 6-foot-2, 240 pounds. Trotter outperformed Dennis, who dealt with a groin injury during training camp and missed time in the preseason as a result. Yet Trotter officially didn’t unseat Dennis on the depth chart until this week.
Last week Bowles said that Trotter had made a “helluva case to start” and that’s exactly what happened. Trotter didn’t miss any practice time during training camp and quickly picked up Bowles’ scheme, which put him into position to start at Cincinnati in Week 1 this Sunday.
Outside of Trotter moving ahead of Dennis, there weren’t any other real surprises on the initial regular season depth chart. The Bucs run a base 3-4 defense and list fellow rookie, outside linebacker Rueben Bain Jr., as a starter along with Trotter, in addition to outside linebacker Yaya Diaby and defensive tackles Vita Vea, Calijah Kancey and A’Shawn Robinson.
Bucs ILB Josiah Trotter – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
Yet Bowles typically runs nickel defense, which features a six-man front consisting of two defensive tackles, two outside linebackers and two inside linebackers along with five defensive backs. That is not reflected on the depth chart, so the team has not officially released the starter at nickelback and that is likely by design to keep the Bengals guessing.
Bowles can opt to bring in second-year Benjamin Morrison as an outside cornerback and move starter Jacob Parrish from outside to the slot, which is where he was a starter last year. Or Bowles can keep Parrish outside along with Zyon McCollum in nickel defense and insert rookie Keionte Scott in to play the slot cornerback position.
Bowles will likely do both depending on the matchups he wants to create as Morrison and Scott have different skillsets and levels of experience.
On offense, Tampa Bay didn’t really have any changes to this depth chart outside of undrafted free agent Jalon Daniels officially being named QB2 behind Baker Mayfield. Yet the team releasing veteran Jake Browning essentially made that a reality over a week ago.
The team lists three starters at wide receiver – Chris Godwin Jr., Emeka Egbuka and Jalen McMillan – with rookie Ted Hurst III, Tez Johnson and Kam Johnson all listed as second-team wideouts.
Rookie Bauer Sharp is listed as the team’s fourth-team tight end behind Cade Otton, Payne Durham and Ko Kieft.
Along the offensive line, Ben Chukwuma is listed as Tristan Wirfs’ backup at left tackle and Justin Skule is listed as the backup at right tackle behind Luke Goedeke. Dan Feeney, who played guard last year in a fill-in capacity, would likely be the first interior offensive lineman off the bench, but he’s listed as the backup center on the depth chart.