The Bucs wanted to accomplish two things with their 2023 NFL Draft – add speed across the board by drafting faster players, and get more physical. Bucs general manager Jason Licht, head coach Todd Bowles and the team’s scouts attacked the trenches with the first three picks – Pittsburgh defensive tackle Calijah Kancey, North Dakota State guard Cody Mauch and Louisville outside linebacker YaYa Diaby. All three are fast, physical players.

“He fits perfectly,” Bowles said about the 6-foot-1, 281-pound Kancey, who was the 19th overall pick. “We do a lot of things. We wanted to get faster at all levels in this draft, whether it was offense or defense. We got a power player who is also a fast player and he can play across the line of scrimmage.

“The size, I don’t think really matters much. He’s very good against the run, he has a good base, a run base, and he’s very good in the passing game as we all know. Just the overall player is good. He’s not just a quick player, you’re not just blowing them off the ball, I can tell you that much. That was important for us as well. I don’t know if we’re evolving. We have gotten a lot quicker up front with him and Logan [Hall] and [Joe] Tryon[-Shoyinka]. Hopefully we got a lot quicker and more athletic and we can do some things.”

Kancey and Diaby are fast, explosive players who lit it up at the NFL Scouting Combine by blazing a 4.67 and 4.51 times in the 40-yard dash, respectively. Here are the composite Relative Athletic Score (RAS) numbers from Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) for Tampa Bay’s first three draft picks this year. Kancey is the 64th most athletic defensive tackle to come out in the draft since 1987, while Diaby is the 23rd-most athletic edge rusher since 1987.

Mauch, who played left tackle at North Dakota State but will move inside to guard, is also fast and agile, and dominated the Combine and his pro day, as well.

Predictably, the RAS scores fell off on Day 3, as the Bucs drafted a total of five more players in the fifth and sixth rounds. But that average score of 7.72 for the entire draft class is quite legit.

Bucs WR Trey Palmer – Photo by: USA Today

The Bucs added even more speed on Day 3, especially from Nebraska wide receiver Trey Palmer, who ran a 4.33 at the Combine, which was the fastest time for any receiver, and Kansas State nickel defensive back Josh Hayes, who ran a 4.44 at his pro day.

Eastern Michigan outside linebacker Jose Ramirez had an impressive 1.58 10-yard split at the Combine. And his 4.3 time in the short shuttle and 6.95 time in the three-cone drill were the fastest times among all edge rushers this year.

“Todd has said that – and it was always a B.A. (Bruce Arians) moniker, too – speed kills. Speed, speed, speed,” Bucs vice president of player personnel John Spytek said after the draft. “But at the end of the day they have to be good football players, too.”

Bucs Drafted Proven Producers On Defense

Just as important as speed and athleticism, the players in this 2023 Bucs draft class have the football tape to back it up. These are football players that play the game of football fast – not just athletes and track stars. Tampa Bay put a premium on production at the college level.

“We’re not just going to draft guys that run fast, but can’t play the game,” Spytek said. “The Combine is helpful with some of that stuff, and yeah, we turned in a lot of guys that ran good 40 times, but you turn on the film, and I know you have, and they play fast, too. It was one of the things we look for it, and it was a priority this year. We feel pretty good about it.”

Bucs DT Calijah Kancey Photo By: USA Today

A case in point, the Bucs passed on drafting uber-athletic Georgia outside linebacker Nolan Smith. Despite running a 4.39 and having a 41.5-inch vertical jump, the 6-foot-2, 239-pound edge rusher had just 11.5 sacks in his Bulldogs career over four years. The most sacks Smith ever produced in one season was just 3.5 in 2021.

Pittsburgh defensive tackle Calijah Kancey was one of the most productive defensive tackles in college football over the last two years. Kancey had 34.5 tackles for loss and 16 sacks in three seasons for the Panthers while becoming a consensus All-American and the ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

Kancey had seven sacks in 2021 and 7.5 sacks last year and was just a better, more productive player than a guy like Smith. The fact that he ran a stunning 4.67 time in the 40-yard dash at 281 pounds also helped.

“It’s hard to find inside pass rushers in this league. It’s really hard,” Spytek said. “Todd has been after a three-technique like Calijah that can really run for a long time. I’m sure he would prefer that Calijah was 310 pounds or something like that. At the same time, he’s undeterred. He and [defensive line coach] Kacy [Rodgers] are undeterred about his size. So really after a lot of talk and after a lot of evaluation we really weren’t concerned about his size. It was more about what he can do, and he did it at an extremely high level for years at Pitt.”

In the third round, the Bucs added Louisville’s YaYa Diaby, an ascending outside linebacker who had 14.5 tackles for loss and nine sacks last year alone. Diaby ran a 4.51 in Indy at 6-foot-3, 263 pounds.

Bucs OLB YaYa Diaby – Photo by: USA Today

Tampa Bay doubled up at edge rusher by finishing off the draft with Eastern Michigan’s Jose Ramirez in the sixth round. Ramirez produced 33 tackles for loss, 20.5 sacks and five forced fumbles in three years for the Eagles, including 19.5 tackles for loss and 12 sacks last season.

“We weren’t going to force it, but [Diaby] fell to us and we were excited about it,” Spytek said. “And then to add another one that has been productive – the MAC is a quality football conference. They play quality football there and he won the conference Defensive Player of the Year and is around the quarterback all the time. The more you can affect those great quarterbacks the better.”

Tampa Bay also drafted Kancey’s teammate, Pitt middle linebacker SirVocea Dennis, with their first pick in the fifth round. In three years as a starter for the Panthers, Dennis notched 231 tackles, 36 tackles for loss, 15 sacks, picked off two passes and forced two fumbles.

Bucs Looked For Proven Production On Offense, Too

Bucs TE Payne Durham – Photo By: USA Today

The Bucs spent a pair of Day 3 picks on some offensive weapons in Purdue tight end Payne Durham and Nebraska wide receiver Trey Palmer. Durham wasn’t one of the fastest tight ends, but has great size at nearly 6-foot-6, and weighs 253 pounds. He recorded 126 catches for 1,275 yards and a whopping 21 touchdowns in his Boilermakers career. He had back-to-back seasons with at least 45 catches for 450 yards and six touchdowns in his final two years at Purdue.

“He’s a smart player, he’s a high-effort player,” Spytek said. “He’s obviously tall, he’s long, he has great hands. He’s not the fastest. I think the 40-time (4.87) shows that. So what you look for when you get guys like that is they’re going to be covered. They’re going to be forced to make contested catches. And he proved that to us over and over, which is why he’s a good red zone target.

“The field gets small down there. You’re not going to catch a lot of wide open passes. You have to find a way or have a knack for those plays with guys hanging all over you or with a hand in your face. He has the size, length and ball skills to do that and it shows up with the 21 touchdown catches.”

Palmer had a 53-yard punt return for a touchdown and a 92-yard kick return for a TD at LSU before transferring to Nebraska for his final season. Despite having 4.33 speed, Palmer was behind a logjam at wide receiver at LSU among the likes of Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, Key Boutte and others.

In his lone season with the Cornhuskers, he caught 71 passes for 1,043 yards (14.7 avg.) and nine touchdowns. Palmer had three touchdowns of 70-plus yards last year, which led the FBS.