The last 2 years have been a wasteland when it comes to edge rushers for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That’s not being dramatic. They’ve really been that bad.
The only bright spot in that stretch has been third year edge rusher YaYa Diaby, a third round pick (No. 82 overall) in the 2023 NFL draft who led the team in sacks as a rookie and has 12.0 sacks over his first 2 seasons.
What Diaby has now is an opportunity to take his game and his career to a new level. While he started all 17 games for the Buccaneers in 2024, he saw his sack total go down from 7.5 sacks to 4.5 sacks after he missed all of training camp with a high ankle sprain.
That puts a clear goal in Diaby’s sights for 2025 — double digit sacks or bust. Want a marker to show the rest of the NFL you are what you think you are? That’s it.
Diaby, 6-foot-3 and 270 pounds, has already shown he has Pro Bowl upside. He just needs to deliver the goods.
“Looking deeper at the full scope of his 2024 performance, there were tangible improvements made to his game,” The Pewter Report’s Bailey Adams wrote on July 17. “It goes beyond taking his tackle for loss total from 12 to 13 and his quarterback hits from eight to 20. It’s the consistency with which he got to the quarterback that proved to be a big step forward. After only posting pass rush win rate well below 10% in 2023, Diaby finished with a 17.4% pass rush win rate in 2024. Not only that, but his total pressures went up from 30 as a rookie to 70 last year.”
Buccaneers Made Move to Lock Down ‘Elite’ Help
The Buccaneers and general manager Jason Licht made a clear statement on how they viewed the edge rusher position in the offseason — meaning they didn’t like what they saw.
Tampa Bay acted quickly and signed 2-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Haason Reddick to a 1-year, $14 million free agent contract with $12 million guaranteed on the first day of free agency.
Adding Reddick gives Diaby something he hasn’t had through his first 2 seasons — someone on the other side of the field who defensive coordinators actually have to game plan for. ESPN singled out Licht’s “gamble” on Reddick as one of the NFL’s best moves of the offseason.
“Tampa Bay also took what I thought was a worthwhile gamble on Reddick at one year, $14 million,” ESPN’s Seth Walder wrote on July 10. “Reddick is coming off a lost season that featured a long contract standoff, 10 games played and only one sack. But Reddick has been an elite pass rusher (he posted double-digit sacks every year from 2020 to 2023) and could help Todd Bowles’ defense if he bounces back.”
Big Money On the Line for Diaby in 2025
If Diaby can truly prove he’s an elite edge rusher, that could mean a massive payday.
Because he’s a third round pick, Diaby isn’t eligibile to get a fifth year extension from the Buccaneers. That means he could be in line for a deal similar to Denver Broncos edge rusher Jonathon Cooper, a 2021 draft pick who signed a 4-year, $60 million contract extension midway through the 2024 season.
Diaby is currently in the third year of his 4-year, $5.46 million rookie contract.
