In 2024, outside linebacker Yaya Diaby and three-technique Calijah Kancey set the tone up front for the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay generated the most unblocked pressures (64) and the 4th-quickest average time to pressure (2.59 seconds) in the NFL per Next Gen Stats. The Bucs defense finished the regular season having recorded the 2nd-highest blitz rate (38.9%) and 8th-highest pressure rate (35.8%).
Kancey led the team with 7.5 sacks, even more impressive considering he missed five contests. He posted 6.5 sacks over the final nine games of the 2024 season and played an integral role in the team's run defense in the interior alongside Vita Vea. The Bucs run defense ranked fourth in the NFL, limiting opponents to 97.8 yards per game. With rare first-step quickness, contact balance and change-of-direction skills, Kancey elevated the defensive line. He became lethal on twists/stunts with elite closing burst and was dropped in coverage on occasion due to his athleticism.
"I thought he did a heck of a job from last year to this year from a run game standpoint and from a pass game standpoint," said Head Coach Todd Bowles on Calijah Kancey. "He missed five games and when he came back, you weren't double teaming him and blowing him off the football. He understood the game and we freed him up a bit and did some different things. I thought he became a heck of a player and had he made the first five games; he might have been in the Pro Bowl as well…I am very happy with his play and he was one of the guys that had a heck of a year on defense for us."
Tampa Bay generated pressure on 45.2% of their pass rushes in the second halves of games after their Week 11 bye, the second-highest rate in the NFL, and the team went 6-1 over that stretch. Yaya Diaby led the unit in pressures with 57, boosting the unit's overall pressure. Diaby posted 13 run stuffs (loss or no gain) in 2024 and was just one of eight edge rushers to record 50-plus pressures and 10-plus run stuffs (Myles Garrett, Jared Verse, Jonathan Greenard, Brian Burns, Greg Rousseau, Will Anderson, Maxx Crosby). Although his sack tally may not have stunned, his impact was sizeable. He improved from 26 pressures and nine run stuffs during his rookie campaign and harnessed his power in 2024 with active hands. He was named the NFC's Defensive Player of the Week for Week 18.
In Tampa Bay's division-clinching win over the New Orleans Saints, Diaby accumulated five tackles (four for loss), 1.0 sack and four quarterback hits. He became one of just four players in 2024 with four-or-more tackles for loss and four-plus quarterback hits in a single game, joining Aidan Hutchinson (Week 2), Trey Hendrickson (Week 9) and Nick Bosa (Week 17). Diaby's lateral quickness, separation skills at the point of attack with an effective arm extension and short-area acceleration fortified the edge.
"We thought he was one of our best pass rushers and the best at the time," noted Bowles. "He had more pressures than everybody, he just didn't finish them. We thought he became a much better player. He wasn't thinking as much and some of his sacks, it could have easily turned into being a 15-sack year…He is playing his tail off and he works at it so really the way he played, you didn't have the result that you want but the way he played was unbelievable."
Both Diaby and Kancey have taken on an increased leadership role and have the potential of creating one of the league's most feared edge-defensive tackle tandems.
