The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won in Houston on Monday night on a last-second touchdown, but in the process they lost one of their key players on defense. Defensive lineman Calijah Kancey, who led the Buccaneers in sacks in 2024 with 7.5 suffered a pectoral injury against and on Wednesday he was placed on injured reserve. To take his spot on the 53-man roster and bolster the interior-line group, Tampa Bay signed defensive lineman Elijah Simmons off the Arizona Cardinals' practice squad.
While players who are placed on injured reserve during the season are only required to miss a minimum of four games before returning to the active roster, Kancey's injury is likely to keep him out for much longer than that. Head Coach Todd Bowles said the team did not yet know if Kancey could return to action late in the season or in the playoffs, similar to what fellow defensive lineman Vita Vea did in 2020.
"[It's] a little premature for that; I'm not really sure," said Bowles.
Kancey has had some tough injury luck since the Bucs drafted him 19th overall in 2023. He missed most of his rookie training camp and nearly four full games that season due to a calf strain, then suffered a similar injury just before the start of last season and missed five contests. When healthy, however, he has been a strong defender against both the run and the passes, recording 55 tackles, 11.5 sacks, 22 tackles for loss, one forced fumble and one pass defensed in 28 career games.
With Simmons in the fold, the Buccaneers have five defensive linemen on the active roster, with Vea joined by veterans Logan Hall and Greg Gaines as well as rookie fifth-round pick Elijah Roberts. Bowles said all of them have to be ready for increased responsibility after the loss of Kancey.
"Everybody's got to step up," said Bowles. "Obviously we can't replicate what Kancey can do for us. Some of them have got to play the run, some of them have got to be ready for the pass. Everybody's got to do their job and we just have to cover for him."
Roberts, who combined with Lavonte David for his first career sack on Monday night, is the most likely of the group to see a significant uptick in snaps given his pass-rush ability. Roberts played 13 snaps on defense against Houston after seeing nine plays against Atlanta in the season opener.
"He's coming on by the week," said Bowles of Roberts. "We're really happy with his athletic ability. Him understanding the scheme a lot better means he can play a lot faster. The more confidence he gains, the better you see his ability coming out and he's been doing really well these last few weeks."
The Cardinals signed Simmons as an undrafted rookie out of Tennessee this past May. He went to training camp with the team but was released in the leaguewide roster cutdown to 53 then immediately re-signed to Arizona's practice squad.
Simmons (6-1, 334) played in 55 games over five seasons for the Volunteers, logging eight starts. He finished his collegiate career with 59 tackles, 7.0 tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks and three passes defensed
