The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are looking forward to a re-tooled defense next season.
After finishing near the bottom of the league in most important defensive categories last season, general manager Jason Licht made it a point to improve the defense in the NFL Draft earlier this month.
Licht also added veteran linebacker Haason Reddick in free agency, hoping to improve the team's pass rush.
Reddick will be playing alongside fellow linebacker Yaya Diaby, who is entering his third season in the league, and could be somewhat of a wild card on defense next season and was just labeled the team's most underrated player by Pro Football Focus.
"Diaby didn’t explode in the sack column in 2024, which kept his play under the radar, but his underlying pass-rush metrics suggest he had a breakout season in 2024. Perhaps most impressive about Diaby’s past season is that he delivered an 18.1% pass-rush win rate, which was a top-10 mark for the position, as were his 70 total pressures.
"Sacks are often what makes headlines, but Diaby is well on pace to regress positively in that regard, which will likely keep him from remaining underrated."
Diaby played all 17 regular-season games last year and the Wild Card loss to the Washington Commanders in the postseason, where he tallied four tackles with two solo and one for loss.
For the year, he notched 54 tackles with 39 solo and 13 for loss with 20 quarterback hits and 4.5 sacks. Diaby is expected to once again be a full-time starter in 2025 and be an anchor on the defense.