The 2024 Tampa Bay Buccaneers four-peated as NFC South Division champs and won one more regular-season game than they had the year before, finishing at 10-7. One notable split: The Buccaneers were 8-0 when they held their opponents to 20 or fewer points and 2-8 (playoffs included) when they allowed 21 or more. In the playoff loss to Washington, the Buccaneers had a 17-13 lead and the ball with 12 minutes to play before a botched handoff on an end-around led to a quick Washington touchdown and, eventually, a 23-20 Commanders win. Given how they had performed during the year when keeping the points down, it's not a stretch to say the Bucs had a good chance of advancing without that ill-timed turnover.
Clearly, the Buccaneers' defense had its ups and downs in 2024. While the team's offense took a clear step forward from 2023 to this season, the defensive rankings remained pretty similar. The Bucs did drop from seventh to 16 in points allowed, the most important category, going from 19.1 per game to 22.6, but they moved up five spots on the net yardage list, from 23rd to 18th. Their rush and pass defense numbers remained nearly identical, as both the 2023 and 2024 teams finished 29th against the pass while the '23 team was fifth against the run and that improved to fourth in '24.
Just as there were some obvious highlights for the team defense – holding the Lions to 16 points in Detroit and smothering the Giants in a Week 12 30-7 win – there were certain defenders who stood out in a various statistical categories. Here's a look at the Bucs' top producers on defense in 2024:
Tackles: LB Lavonte David, 122
The ageless linebacker did what he has now done in 11 of his 13 seasons and surpassed 100 tackles. The key for David running away with this category (cornerback Zyon McCollum was second but 39 tackles behind) was starting every game and 97% of the team's defensive snaps, a total of 1,158 plays overall. Safeties Jordan Whitehead (79 tackles in 12 games and 732 snaps) and Antoine Winfield Jr. (60 tackles in nine games and 529 snaps) probably would at least given him a run for his money if they could have avoided injuries.
David's 122 tackles represented just the eighth-highest single-season total of his career and they ranked 25th overall in the NFL.
Sacks: DL Calijah Kancey, 7.5
Impressively, the second-year interior linemen paced the Bucs in sacks despite missing the first five games of the season due to a calf injury suffered in practice two days before the opener. His best stretch was between Weeks Nine and 13 (with a bye in Week 11), when he had a four-game streak of recording at least one sack, with 5.0 total in that stretch. His total is the same as the one posted by Yaya Diaby when he led the team in sacks in 2023. Kancey built on a rookie season in which he also missed significant time due to a calf strain but produced 4.0 sacks.
The Buccaneers ranked 16th in the NFL in sacks per pass play but did so with a gang approach; no player hit double digits in that category but six had 4.0 or more. That tied the Cowboys and Broncos for the most players to do so in 2024.
Kancey just edged out fellow interior lineman Vita Vea, who had 7.0 sacks on the season, while both David and Logan Hall produced 5.5. No Buccaneers finished in the top 35 in sacks in 2024.
Tackles for Loss: OLB Yaya Diaby, 13
Quarterback Hits: Diaby, 20
Diaby saw his sack total drop from 7.5 as a rookie to 4.5 in 2024, but in almost every other measurable way he was a much better pass rusher in his second year. For instance, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, Diaby created pressures on 9.1% of his pass rushes last year but upped that to 15.3% this past season.
As such, Diaby was at the top of the Bucs' list in two other categories that involved making plays behind the line of scrimmage. His 13 tackles for loss were two more than Kancey's 11 and Vea's 10. His 20 quarterback hits were three more than Kancey's 17 and seven more than the 13 posted by both Vea and Anthony Nelson. While Diaby also had 12 tackles for loss in 2023, he took a big leap in quarterback hits, more than doubling the eight he had last year.
Diaby tied for 18th in the NFL in both tackles for loss and quarterback hits in 2024.
Interceptions: CB Zyon McCollum and S Tykee Smith, 2
The Buccaneers only snared seven interceptions as a team in 2024, tied for the fourth fewest in the NFL, so it's unsurprising that there wasn't an obvious standout in this category. McCollum and Smith had two each, while David, cornerback Jamel Dean and safety Christian Izien had one apiece.
Smith, a rookie drafted in the third round in April, obviously set a career high in interceptions but Dean also tied his own single-season best. He previously had two picks in 2019, 2021 and 2022.
Two picks is tied for the lowest total in a single season for the Bucs' top interceptor. That was also true in 1994 and 2022.
Passes Defensed: CB Zyon McCollum, 17
While interceptions were hard to come by for the Buccaneers in 2024, they did have a clear leader in passes defensed and one who ranked near the top of the league in that category. McCollum's 17 pass breakups were 10 more than any other player on the team recorded, as Dean and Smith had seven each and David had six.
Again, availability was a significant factor in this category. Safety Tavierre Thomas, who played almost exclusively on special teams, was the only other Buccaneers defensive back to play in all 17 games, and McCollum's 1,124 defensive snaps were nearly 400 more than the next most active DB, Dean (745).
McCollum tied for third in passes defensed in the NFL in 2024, just behind Cleveland cornerback Denzel Ward (19) and Texans cornerback Derek Stingley (18). McCollum got his stats in bunches; he had 10 passes defensed through the first six games of the season, then had six more over the last three weeks.
Forced Fumbles: David and Smith, 3
It's no surprise to see David at the top of this list, as he is the Buccaneers' all-time leader in forced fumbles with 31 in his illustrious career. This was the sixth time that he forced three or more fumble sin a season, but his first since 2020.
Smith, on the other hand, appears to be an emerging playmaker. Despite a late-season statistical lull, he was one of only four players in the NFL to finish with at least three forced fumbles, at least three interceptions and at least five passes defensed. He tied for the lead among rookies in forced fumbles with Colts edge rusher Laiatu Latu. Both David and Smith tied for ninth among all players in that category.
Fumble Recoveries: Nine players tied with 1
These nine Tampa Bay defenders had a fumble recovery in 2024: David, Diaby, CB Josh Hayes, Hall, Kancey, McCollum, S Kaevon Merriweather, DL Ben Stille and Winfield. We can break the tie and give this category to Winfield because he was the only one of the nine to get any return yards. In fact, he scooped a fumble and returned it 58 yards for a touchdown in a Week Six win in New Orleans.
Special Teams Tackles: LB J.J. Russell, 8
The NFL has come a long way in terms of returns and the coverage thereof from the 1990s, when Shelton Quarles set the Bucs' single-season record for special teams tackles at 31. Russell was one of just four Bucs to have five or more kick-coverage stops this year, as the team only faced 44 combined punt and kickoff returns. Russell, Thomas and wide receiver Ryan Miller each had four solo stops on special teams but Russell gets the top spot by adding four assists.
This wasn't an outcome unique to the Buccaneers. Only four players even got to 10 solo stops on special teams in 2024.
View the top images of Tampa Bay's Wild Card Round game against the Washington Commanders on Sunday, January 12th, 2025 at Raymond James Stadium.