Over the last few years, the outside linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers everyone has paid attention to was Devin White. But, there is another emerging player in the position; YaYa Diaby.
Diaby, a third-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft out of Louisville, was excellent during his rookie season. In 17 games, with seven starts, he recorded 7.5 sacks, 12 tackles for loss, eight quarterback hits and 14 total pressures.
Making those statistics even more impressive is that he played under 50 percent of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive snaps. Week 12 was the first time he surpassed the 50 percent mark and his high on the season was only 66 percent.
With White moving on to the Philadelphia Eagles, it is time for Diaby to truly shine. Given his talent and the opportunity he has in front of him, it should come as no surprise that Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated has selected the Louisville product as one of the most underrated players in the NFC heading into 2024.
“There was a great play during Diaby’s rookie season in which he was setting the edge and bench-pressed Lions all-world offensive tackle Penei Sewell on a run play that was churning right into his lap, and then he made the tackle.
Diaby made a significant number of violent, eye-popping tackles last year and is physical enough to plow through multiple blockers. Another huge tackle for loss he made against the Tennessee Titans showed that Diaby could read tendencies enough to know that Derrick Henry was running away from him, so he shoved his outside shoulder ahead of his blocker and popped upfield for an easy (not really easy against Henry) tackle.
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% of the Bucs’ defensive snaps. If players were a stock, this feels like a good one to be on the ground floor,” Orr wrote.
During his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, White was extremely productive as a do-it-all off-ball linebacker. While listed as an outside linebacker, Diaby’s responsibilities on defense are going to be different from White’s. But, the impact can be on a similar level.
His statistics as a rookie were very impressive and they will almost certainly be taken to another level in 2024. If he can keep up the same pace, some accolades will be coming his way after the season.
Along with defensive lineman Calijah Kancey, safety Antoine Winfield Jr. and linebacker Chris Braswell, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a new defensive core to build around with Diaby.
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