Inside The Huskies

Tryon-Shoyinka Remains Young and Promising, But Hears His Critics

The former Husky edge rusher needs to surpass his 4 sacks in each of his first two seasons.

Dan Raley

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As Joe Tryon-Shoyinka is finding out, the NFL can be as impatient as a New York cab driver sitting on his horn.

Two years in the league with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the former University of Washington edge rusher now hears everyone questioning his production levels.

A 16-game starter last season, the 6-foot-5, 258-pound Tryon-Shoyinka comes off a 4-sack season, matching his rookie output.

The Bucs say this very youthful defender and 2021 first-round draft pick, who's still just 24, is a priority project for them during training camp that just opened.

“Joe has had some flashes, he’s had some good games, he’s shown us why we took him in the first round,” Tampa bay general manager Jason Licht said. “But he does need to take a step up. He needs to step it up this year and we’re confident that he will.”

A single-season UW starter with plenty of potential, Tryon-Shoyinka fully understands he's getting into the backfield, he's just not coming up with the sacks that are within reach.

He's been haunted by it, replaying it, not sleeping because of it.

"You're watching the film, and you're like, 'Damn, I'm getting there, I'm just not finishing the play,' " Tryon-Shoyinka said. "If you just make the ones you miss like that, you're going to have the digits you want. At night, I remember them all the time. I've got them on my phone. I watch them. It keeps me up at night, [bleep] like that. If you put all this work in, you've got a beautiful move, a million-dollar move, but you've got no sack, there's no point."

Again, he's entering just his third NFL season, with big and fast body, just needing to make more things happen.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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