Developing gamewrecker.

One of the best stories in the NFL this season is the development of Chargers rookie defensive end Joey Bosa.

As cool as Noah Spence has grown with the Bucs — yeah, he was Defensive Rookie of the Month for November — Spence had rookie camp, OTA sessions, minicamp and a full training camp and preseason to prepare.

Bosa, due to a contract hassle, didn’t sign until very late in the preseason. Many NFL insiders all but wrote off his rookie year to be a waste as a result. Instead, Bosa has blasted onto the NFL scene.

“It was definitely a process,” Bosa told the Tampa Bay pen and mic club earlier this week. “It was all new to me. Obviously, I’ve never been through anything like this before in my life, so I knew I had to stay focused and stay in shape to be ready.

“When I showed up [to Chargers practices] and unfortunately an injury happened and it was kind of hard. I was really down on myself for missing all that time and then coming in and hurting myself right when I get in there. So, it was a process to get ready, but the whole organization here; coaches, players, really helped a lot, so it wasn’t too bad of an adjustment.

“I think I just stayed confident and kept my work ethic throughout the whole process. I was at home working my butt off six days a week. You can never replicate playing football exactly, but I did my best I could and you know, coming in here obviously, with great players all around, it was an adjustment missing all of camp and having to show up and jump right into defense.”

Instead being way behind a rookie curve, only two rookie pass rushers have more sacks than Bosa (4.5): Jacksonville’s Yannick Ngakoue (six sacks) and Spence (5.5 sacks).

Of course, Bosa and Spence have a strong connection, both played at Ohio State but Spence eventually wound up at Eastern Kentucky. Bosa remembers first meeting Spence and, after watching him in practice, confessed he was intimidated by his teammate.

“I mean, coming in, I kind of knew [Spence] was the guy and he was who I’d watched. … I was a little intimidated because I knew I was going to have to turn into that one day, but at the same time, it was great having some great players to watch as a young player at Ohio State.”

So clearly Sunday, the Bucs are going to have to key on Bosa and keep him out of the game and off the back of America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston. Bosa, like Spence, is nicely developing into an NFL gamewrecker.