{"id":287011,"date":"2026-06-10T10:00:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T14:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=287011"},"modified":"2026-06-10T06:45:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T10:45:38","slug":"bucs-linebacker-yaya-diaby-bullish-on-pass-rush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/06\/10\/bucs-linebacker-yaya-diaby-bullish-on-pass-rush\/","title":{"rendered":"Bucs Linebacker YaYa Diaby Bullish On Team’s Improved Pass Rush In 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have relied heavily on linebacker YaYa Diaby<\/a> to rush opposing quarterbacks throughout his three-year NFL career.<\/span><\/p>\n

Diaby has 19 sacks in his NFL career. He led the team in sacks during his rookie season in 2023 and again last season.<\/span><\/p>\n

His seven sacks accounted for 19% of the Buccaneers’ 37 sacks last season, a number that ranked 19th in the NFL.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the struggles last season, Diaby is confident in Tampa Bay’s front seven heading into 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bucs Linebacker YaYa Diaby Bullish On Team’s Improved Pass Rush In 2026<\/h2>\n

“How can you block (Rueben) Bain (Jr.), Vita (Vea), A’Shawn (Robinson), me, and Calijah (Kancey)?” Diaby said. “You can’t do it, so it’s going to be super exciting,” he said last week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tampa Bay struggled to rush the passer without blitzing last season. Todd Bowles’ defense<\/a> blitzed 35% of the time, the eighth-highest rate in the NFL. Diaby was the only Buccaneer to record more than five sacks.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, Tampa Bay has not had a player record a double-digit sack season since Shaquil Barrett had 10 sacks in 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because of this, Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht made the pass rush a priority this offseason.<\/span><\/p>\n

It started in free agency when Tampa Bay signed former Lions edge rusher Al-Quadin Muhammed<\/a>. He recorded a career-high 11 sacks and nine tackles for loss on Detroit’s defense last season. He also had 53 quarterback pressures.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Buccaneers then doubled down on edge rushers by drafting Rueben Bain Jr. with the 15th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.<\/a>\u00a0Bain had 20.5 sacks in three seasons at Miami, including 9.5 sacks in 12 regular-season games last year. He was considered one of the most prolific pass rushers in this year’s draft class.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Bain brings a lot. I was super, super stoked when they got him. I texted coach (Todd) Bowles and said, ‘Great pick,'” Diaby said last week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another boost for the Buccaneers’ defense is the return of defensive lineman Calijah Kancey to the lineup. Kancey missed 14 games with a pectoral injury last season, but he led the Buccaneers with 7.5 sacks in 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n

Along with Kancey, the Buccaneers will return linebacker Yaya Diaby and defensive lineman Vita Vea, who have recorded 4.5 or more sacks in each of the past four seasons. With those pieces in place, the Buccaneers appear poised to have a stronger pass rush than in years past.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Now having guys that can help, it takes the load off a little bit, and we can all get after it,” Diaby said.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Linebacker YaYa Diaby Enters High-Stakes Fourth Season With Buccaneers<\/h3>\n

It will be a crucial year for Diaby. The 2026 season is the final year of his rookie contract, and he is set to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I want to be a Buc for my whole career. That’s all I can say. But at the same time, that’s the least of my worries. I’m just happy to be out here with the guys playing around, having fun, and just getting after it,” Diaby said when asked about his impending free agency.<\/span><\/p>\n

Diaby and the bolstered Buccaneers front seven will look to become a force in 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have relied heavily on linebacker YaYa Diaby to rush opposing quarterbacks throughout his three-year NFL career.
\nDespite the struggles last season, Diaby is confident in Tampa Bay’s front seven heading into 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5859,"featured_media":287027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,6431,29],"tags":[33533,9473,9642,33897,33743,224,9917],"class_list":["post-287011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-nfl-teams","category-buccaneers","tag-2026-nfl-draft","tag-al-quadin-muhammad","tag-calijah-kancey","tag-jason-licht","tag-rueben-bain-jr","tag-todd-bowles","tag-yaya-diaby"],"modified_by":"Sue Levine","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5859"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287011"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":287028,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287011\/revisions\/287028"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}