In 2003, rookie outside linebacker Yaya Diaby was one of the most pleasant surprises for a team that itself surprised a lot of observers by winning the NFC South. Diaby was a third-round draft pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who first and foremost liked the Louisville product for his consistently good work stopping the run. He proved to be quite a bit more than that, moving from a rotational role into the starting lineup my midseason and eventually leading the team with 7.5 sacks.
Firmly entrenched as a starter in his second season, Diaby was expected to lead the Buccaneers' pass rush and build on that fine rookie sack total. But for much of the season, the sacks didn't come. Diaby had just one QB takedown in the first game and by mid-December was sitting at 2.0. Most of Tampa Bay's sack production was coming from the inside, where down linemen Calijah Kancey, Vita Vea and Logan Hall would eventually combine for 20 of them.
Despite that, the Buccaneers' coaching staff was far from disappointed in Diaby's performance. High sack numbers or not, he was still putting pressure on the quarterback, and he was always working tirelessly on his game. The Bucs believed that Diaby had, in fact, taking a step forward in his sophomore campaign.
"The thing with Yaya [is] he's just kind of been treading all along," said Run Game Coordinator/Defensive Line Coach Kacy Rodgers on Thursday. "He's been close several times, this and that, and we've talked before like, 'Sacks come in bunches. Just keep working and just keep working. They'll come.' A lot of times guys have great rushes but not the results, then you see guys stuck on the line of scrimmage and the quarterback runs right into their arms. Sometimes it's just not an exact science but as long as you keep working, good things are going to happen. I couldn't be more happy for him because the guy works his butt of and I'm glad to see the plays finally coming for him."
As Rodgers notes, Diaby did in fact finish the season on a tear in the sack category, with 2.5 in the last three games to put his final total at 4.5. He was one of six Buccaneer defenders to finish with four or more sacks, tied for the most employed by any team this season. And he saved his best performance for last, with one sack, four quarterback hits and four tackles for loss in the playoff-clinching win over New Orleans in Week 18.
Diaby said the sacks finally started to come because he eventually just stopped worrying about that column in his sack line.
"I just stopped focusing on the sacks," he said. "For me, I was always, 'I've got to get a sack. I've got to get a sack,' and these last couple weeks, I've just been playing free. I'm really just being myself. All the negative outsiders saying what I can do and what I can't do, I honestly don't care about that [any] more. I'm just playing my game in the way I need to play to help this team win."
Look beyond the sack numbers and you will see very clear and significant improvement in Diaby's game from Year One to Year Two. He had 26 quarterback pressures and a 9.1% pressure rate as a rookie, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. In the same number of games in 2024, albeit with 10 more starts and a 70% usage rate, he tallied 57 quarterback pressures and pumped his pressure rate up to 13.3%. Diaby led the Buccaneers with 20 QB hits and 13 tackles for loss.
For his season-capping performance against the Saints, Diaby became the first Buccaneer to win NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors this year. Rodgers agrees that Diaby has thrived at the end of the season because he has stopped focusing on sacks in particular and has just let the game come to him.
"Everybody wants to see the sack numbers," said Rodgers. "That's the first question they're going to ask you so of course it forces him to press a little bit sometimes. Sometimes you just have to let the game come to you.
"I'll give you a perfect example – a couple weeks ago in Dallas, he had a wide open shot at the quarterback and he would make that a hundred times – just let the plays come to you, don't press – and he just froze up at the wrong [time]. He was right here, unblocked. You know, those guys in our defense – in most three-four defenses – those guys are pressure positions. You expect big plays, sack fumbles, this and that, and when they aren't coming, guys tend to press a little bit. We say it every day in practice, 'Just keep doing what you're doing and plays will come.'"
Now those plays are coming, and so are the accolades
