The NFL season is a grueling toll on the body. It became more grueling in 2022 when the league expanded to an 18-week/17-game schedule. Add in the preseason and the playoffs and some players will log snaps in up to 24 games over six months. In such a physical sport that is an absurd amount of stress and strain on a player’s muscles, joints and ligaments.

Rookies like Bucs defensive tackle Calijah Kancey tend to deal with this grind the worst as many aren’t used to such a long and demanding schedule. The “rookie wall” has long been a part of the NFL lexicon as players adjust from an 11-14 game schedule to an extended professional calendar.

Which made the following fact all the more impressive when I found it.

Calijah Kancey’s two best pass rushing performances of his rookie year per PFF?

#2 WC vs PHI: 6 pressures, 5 hurries, 1 sack, 80.2 pass rush grade

#1 DP @ DET: 5 pressures, 4 hurries, 1 sack, 81.1 pass rush grade

He was peaking at the EOS and bodes well for yr2 breakout.

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) July 14, 2024

Bucs DT Calijah Kancey – Photo By: Cliff Welch P/R

When most players are fatigued and their level of play is slipping, Kancey was peaking last year. Admittedly, he missed all of the preseason and all but 11 snaps of the first four games of the season due to a calf injury. But, because of an early season bye week he played 15 straight games ending in Detroit with the Bucs’ Divisional Round loss to the Lions. And the 14th and 15th of those games were two of his best.

In addition to Kancey’s 80+ Pro Football Focus pass rush grades he generated pressure on 17.7% of his pass rush snaps. That rate would compete with the best edge rushers in the NFL. For comparison, here is how his two-game playoff pressure rate would compare to the full seasons of some of the top pass rushers in the NFL last year.

Aaron Donald 14.6%

Myles Garrett 17.0%

T.J. Watt 15.6%

Nick Bosa 17.6%

Maxx Crosby 14.3%

Micah Parsons 19.9%

This was a small sample size, but it also illustrates what Kancey can be at his best: one of the best pass rushers in the NFL.

How Calijah Kancey Wins

The college scouting profile on Calijah Kancey has translated to the NFL. There are four keys to his success as a pass rusher.

1. Winning off the snap

Calijah Kancey’s quickness off the snap is incredible. Despite the scouting reports on him, week-in and week-out he surprises opposing guards and tackles by launching off the line of scrimmage faster than almost anyone else and getting into the pads of his opponent. This is the most crucial aspect of his game as it helps him make up for a critical lack of length in his physical profile.

2. Hand-Fighting

Whether it’s using a swipe, double-swipe or gaining control of his opposition’s elbows, Calijah Kancey consistently showed against high level competition coming from the Lions and Eagles that he could maintain control of his interactions with an advanced feel for using his hands to…well…gain the upper hand (I hated that it came to this pun, but that’s where the sentence took me). This attribute acted as a force multiplier for his get-off, creating a higher ceiling for his best trait.

3. Reducing Surface Area

Bucs DT Calijah Kancey and Lions QB Jared Goff – Photo by: USA Today

Whether it was as a pass rusher or as a gap shooter in run defense, Calijah Kancey showed consistently against both Philadelphia and Detroit that once he found a crease in a gap, he could twist his hips to reduce the surface area he was presenting blockers.

This makes the offensive lineman’s job more difficult as they can’t maintain their grip on him without potentially drawing a holding penalty. Impressively, he was able to do this without sacrificing the drive of his rush as his opponents were rarely able to just push him through the pocket after he had twisted to a weaker base. He would then finish this move often with an arm-over or swim to fully clear himself of the opposing guard or tackle.

4. Natural Leverage

One of the benefits of being just shy of 6-foot is that it is near impossible for Calijah Kancey to not play lower than everyone else in the trenches naturally. He exploits this advantage with incredible leg drive.

There was one particular play against Detroit in the divisional round where he attempted a double-swipe against Lions guard Kayode Awosika, but Ayosika hadn’t committed to his punch yet. Kancey’s hand movement was so violent it caused him to lose balance and start to fall into Ayosika. But being at the lower leverage point, and with the lower body strength he possessed, Kancey was able to keep his legs pumping and pushed Ayosika back into quarterback Jared Goff.

Kancey (#94 lined up outside the LG), with the violent hand swipe, starts to lose his balance, but still gets into Kayode Ayosika’s chest and just leg drives him back into the QB helping lead to the sack. pic.twitter.com/7u2KuXfHIS

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) July 16, 2024

The young defensive tackle showed up on the biggest stage against some impressive competition including Cam Jurgens, Landon Dickerson, Lane Johnson, Jonah Jackson and Graham Glasgow. If Calijah Kancey can continue to build on those impressive performances over an entire season the sky is the limit for the former first-round pick.