Yaya Diaby wasn't in the room when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sent up their pick in the first round of this year's NFL Draft, but he didn't wait long to let Head Coach Todd Bowles, who wasin the room, how he felt about it. The Buccaneers were surprised that Miami edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. was still available at pick 15 – Bain was widely considered a top-10 or even top-five talent – and they didn't hesitate to make the selection. Watching from afar, Diaby said he was "super-stoked" and he reached out immediately to Bowles.
"I texted Coach Bowles immediately, I said, 'Great pick,'" relayed Diaby on Tuesday, also mentioning the free agency addition of edge rusher Al-Quadin Muhammad. "When they got Muhammad, that's another great addition, a veteran guy. He's going into Year 10 now so he can also help me and Bain and the other guys in the room."
Pumping up their pass rush off the edge was a top priority for the Buccaneers this offseason, as stated multiple times by Bowles prior to the draft. Now, with Bain and Muhammad in the rotation and promising 2025 draft pick David Walker healthy again, Bowles sees a more dangerous situation for opposing offenses, and an opportunity for Diaby to see fewer double-team blocks in his fourth season.
"[Diaby] got a lot of attention last year," said Bowles. "He got the doubles almost every time. But with Rueben over there the hope is they can corner up the market and have the quarterback step up in the pocket, and help each other out as well as help out the interior."
When that topic of frequent double-teaming was brought up to Diaby, he first started laughing, then suggested he could give a more 'real' answer about his frustrations before diplomatically choosing to look ahead instead.
"Nah, it was stressful to begin with, but at the same time, that's what comes with it," said Diaby of being a marked man. "Now having guys that can help, it takes the load off a little bit and we all can get after it. I was saying earlier in one of the interviews I was in, 'How do you block Bain, Vita [Vea], A'Shawn [Robinson], me and Al-Quadin?' You can't do it. It's going to be super-exciting."
A third-round draft pick in 2023 who was known for his run defense at Louisville, Diaby has unwrapped some serious pass-rushing potential in the NFL. He has accumulated 19.0 sacks through his first three seasons, including a team-leading 7.0 last year. Even though he didn't hit double digits or rank among the league leaders in sacks, he was one of the more effective edge rushers in the NFL. According to Next Gen Stats, Diaby tied Houston star rusher Danielle Hunter for eighth in the league with 68 quarterback pressures. His pressure rate when being double-teamed was 12.1%, slightly better than that of Green Bay's Micah Parsons (11.8%).
There are no pads and no tackling during offseason practices, and even in training camp the quarterbacks will be wearing red jerseys to warn defenders to stay away. Still, Diaby can already feel an added level of aggression and excitement in this year's defense following the additions of such front-line maulers as Bain, Muhammad, Robinson and Rakeem Nuñez-Roches. Tuesday's OTA workout was a good example – the defense got off to a great start with a Calijah Kancey play in the backfield on the first 11-on-11 snap, then finished strong with an impassioned stop near the end zone on the final drill.
"The boys are getting after it, man," said Diaby. "I'm super-excited with the guys we've got right now, and I'm so happy to have everybody out here in attendance.
"You see that juice. Our offense is going to need to be ready every practice; we're going to keep bringing the juice and we're just going to keep getting better and getting each other better. I know the offense is going to come back tomorrow and try to hand it to us, but we're not letting up. We're just going to keep adding on and keep getting better."
