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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers don’t have a lot of experienced pass rushers on the roster in 2024 — so they need the players who have shown they can get to the quarterback to stay healthy.
The Buccaneers endured a scary moment at training camp on Aug. 1 when last season’s sack leader, outside linebacker YaYa Diaby, was carted off the field with ankle injury.
“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. Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht said Diaby would undergo more testing Thursday afternoon, but ‘we’re hopeful that we avoided something very serious.’ ”
According to The Tampa Bay Times, the Buccaneers may have avoided a serious injury — and losing Diaby for the season — when test results came back negative for fractures.
“Diaby, who led the team in sacks with 7.5 as a rookie, was unable to put weight on his left leg,” wrote The Times’ Rick Stroud and Kristie Ackert. “However, X-rays that were taken of Diaby’s ankle immediately after the injury showed no fractures. He was set to undergo an MRI and further testing later in the day and the Bucs are hopeful the injury won’t be a long-term one.”
Diaby Prepared For Breakout Season in 2024
Probably the most amazing thing about Diaby’s rookie season was the third-round pick out of Louisville played in less than half of Tampa Bay’s defensive snaps.
Sports Illustrated’s Connor Orr has Diaby pegged as the most underrated player on Tampa Bay’s roster in 2024.
“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,” Orr wrote on July 3. “If players were a stock, this feels like a good one to be on the ground floor.”
How high the Buccaneers can climb in 2024 will depend in large part on whether or not their edge rushers can consistently put pressure on the quarterback — something they were not able to do in 2023.
Pro Football Focus’ Gordon McGuinness wrote that it could be the difference in whether or not the Buccaneers make the playoffs in 2024.
“The Buccaneers had just one player record 40 or more total pressures in the regular season in 2023, and that was Shaquil Barrett, whom the team released this offseason,” McGuinness wrote on May 30.” “The Bucs’ starting edge defenders are currently slated to be YaYa Diaby and Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, who wouldn’t have ranked among the top 30 edge defenders in regular-season QB pressures even if you combined their output.”
Diaby’s Injury Could Be Opening For Rookie, JTS
Two players could take advantage of any prolonged absence for Diaby — 2024 second-round pick Chris Braswell and 2021 first-round pick Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, who is playing the final year of his rookie contract after the Buccaneers’ declined his fifth-year extension in the offseason.
Tryon-Shoyinka was the No. 32 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft. His fifth-year option would have paid him $13.2 million in 2025 and he’s played in all 17 games each of his three seasons. Tryon-Shoyinka started a career-high 16 games in 2022, but saw that number drop to 12 games in 2023.
The bigger number for Tryon-Shoyinka is 13.0 sacks through his first three seasons. Those numbers were put in stark contrast after Diaby, who plays the same position, got over half that total in his first season.
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