12-Sack Edge Rusher Called ‘Most Underrated Player’ for Buccaneers

When Tampa Bay Buccaneers edge rusher YaYa Diaby steps on the field in 2025, he will get to experience something he hasn’t in the first 2 years of his NFL career.

That is, another elite edge rusher collapsing the pocket on the opposite side from him with 2-time Pro Bowler and NFL All-Pro Haason Reddick, who came to the Buccaneers on a 1-year, $14 million free agent contract on March 10.

Diaby’s upside is why PFF’s Jonathan Macri singled him out as one of the NFL’s “Most Underrated Players” headed into the season.

Diaby has 12.0 sacks through his first 2 seasons. He led the Buccaneers with 7.5 sacks in 2023 and regressed slightly in 2024 with 4.5 sacks.

“Diaby didn’t explode in the sack column in 2024, which kept his play under the radar, but his underlying pass-rush metrics suggest he had a breakout season in 2024,” Macri wrote on May 14. “Perhaps most impressive about Diaby’s past season is that he delivered an 18.1% pass-rush win rate, which was a top-10 mark for the position, as were his 70 total pressures.”

Preseason Injury May Have Held Diaby Back

One of the reasons Diaby may have regressed in the sack column in 2024 was a preseason high ankle sprain he suffered on August 1 — the first week of training camp — that saw him sidelined for almost a month.

“The injury occurred during the two-minute drill at the end of practice,” wrote ESPN’s Jenna Laine. “Several teammates kneeled as the cart came out onto the middle of the field.”

While Diaby returned in time for the season opener and started all 17 games and a playoff loss to the Washington Commanders, it’s worth wondering if the injury hampered his effectiveness to begin the season. Diaby only had 1.0 sack through the first 6 games of the season.

“Diaby had 7.5 sacks during his rookie year and eight quarterback hits, earning him a fifth-place finish in the Defensive Rookie of the Year voting, despite Diaby playing just 46 percent of the Bucs’ defensive snaps,” Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr wrote in July 2024. “If players were a stock, this feels like a good one to be on the ground floor.”

Buccaneers Should Have Much Improved Defense in 2024

Injuries and a porous defense — sometimes a combination of the 2 — almost derailed Tampa Bay’s season in 2024 before a late season surge boosted them into the playoffs.

The biggest problem with the defense throughout the year was the lack of an elite edge rusher to put pressure on the quarterback, with interior defensive linemen Calijah Kancey and Pro Bowler Vita Vea being forced to pick up the slack.

If Diaby is right and Reddick is back to the form that made him one of the NFL’s best pass rushers over the last 5 years, then there’s no reason the Buccaneers shouldn’t roll to a fourth consecutive NFC South Division title.

Diaby should be as motivated as anyone on the roster. The 2023 third round pick (No. 82 overall) out of Louisville in the 2023 NFL draft could secure a lucrative contract extension by earning Pro Bowl or NFL All-Pro honors with a breakout season — he has 2 years left on his 4-year, $5.6 million rookie contract.