A new Pewter Report Roundtable debuts every Tuesday on PewterReport.com. Each week, the Pewter Reporters tackle another tough question. This week’s prompt: Who will lead the Bucs in sacks in 2025?
Scott Reynolds: Yaya Diaby Finally Has A Breakout Year As Bucs’ Sack Leader
Perhaps no one benefits more from Haason Reddick’s arrival than Tampa Bay’s third-year outside linebacker Yaya Diaby. The 6-foot-3, 270-pound physical force was a marked man last year as the team’s top threat off the edge. Facing more double teams with tight ends and chips from blocking backs, Diaby’s sack total fell from a team-high 7.5 sacks as a rookie in 2023 to just 4.5 last year. Yet Diaby made massive strides in every other statistical category, including QB pressures, as he was tied for seventh in the NFL among edge rushers with Dallas’ Micah Parsons and Buffalo’s Gregory Rousseau with 70.
So it’s only logical that Diaby takes the next step entering his third year and converts some of those pressures into sacks. This season he’ll have Larry Foote helping him as the Bucs’ new outside linebackers coach. That could be a game-changer, as Foote is considered an upgrade over George Edwards, who moved to the pass game coordinator on defense. Throw in the fact that Diaby won’t be switching sides from left end to right end nearly as much in games and he can finally focus on right end where he can attack the quarterback’s blind side on a regular basis.
Bucs OLB Yaya Diaby – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
Reddick prefers rushing from the left side against right tackles, and that is typically where teams will align a tight end. So the two-time Pro Bowler will likely absorb the double-teams that Diaby did last year. Having an established threat playing opposite Diaby should help him face left tackles one-on-one more often and have more winnable matchups.
It could also result in some clean-up sacks coming Diaby’s way from Reddick’s speed. Given the fact that most quarterbacks are right handed, rolling to their left towards Diaby while trying to escape Reddick will make it more difficult to throw the ball on the run and leading to more sack opportunities if Diaby sets the edge effectively. Throw in the fact that the Bucs have a deadly duo of pass-rushing defensive tackles in Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey, and Diaby could very well reach double digit sacks and lead the team with 10 or more in 2025.
Matt Matera: Vita Vea Has Led The Bucs Before And Can Do It Again
In two out of the previous three seasons, a defensive tackle have been the leader in sacks for the Bucs. Last year it was Calijah Kancey with 7.5 sacks. In 2023 outside linebacker Yaya Diaby took the claim with the same number sacks – 7.5 – as a rookie. Yet in 2022 Pro Bowl nose tackle Vita Vea held the top spot for Tampa Bay with 6.5 sacks.
By the way, Vea was just a half sack behind Kancey for the team lead a season ago with a personal-best seven sacks, and is very capable of regaining his title in 2025. Previously known as a run stopper for the Bucs, it’s been remarkable to see Vea make such a big jump in sack production even as he gets older. Although he didn’t have the team lead in 2024, he and Kancey were neck-and-neck all season.
Bucs DT Vita Vea and Giants QB Tommy DeVito – Photo by: USA Today
If Kancey can be available for the start of the season, and rookie defensive lineman Elijah Roberts can have an impact as a rookie, this all benefits Vea, who might not draw double teams like he has in the past because of the Bucs’ weapons along the defensive line. The addition of Haason Reddick on the outside was the best thing that could happen for Vea, as the likes of Kancey on the inside and Reddick on the outside can draw more attention, freeing Vea up for some better opportunities on third down and on every passing down.
Vea is used to seeing double teams and being the primary focus for offensive lines to stop, so if there are a couple of games where teams have to gear up for others on the defense, Vea can thwart a one-on-one matchup and get to the quarterback even more this season. It wouldn’t be far-fetched to see Tampa Bay’s big man in the middle hit double digits and lead the team with 10 sacks in 2025.
Bailey Adams: Bucs Will Have Joint Sack Leaders In 2025
I know what you’re thinking, but before you call this a cop-out because I couldn’t repeat picks, the Bucs haven’t had joint sack leaders since 2006. That year, Dewayne White, Ellis Wyms and Greg Spires all finished with five sacks apiece, which was sadly enough to share the team lead. I’m actually going to go out on a limb here and predict that third-year pro Yaya Diaby and newly signed veteran Haason Reddick will tie for the most sacks on the Tampa Bay defense this year.
Now, if Diaby and Reddick are going to tie for the team lead in sacks, that’s likely going to mean that neither reaches double-digits. Of course, both have the potential to get to 10+ sacks. Diaby has yet to do it in his short two-year career, but he’s more than capable of getting there as he notched 7.5 as a rookie and didn’t even start for the first half of the 2023 season. And Reddick is certainly no stranger to double-digit sacks, as he surpassed 10 sacks in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Bucs OLBs Haason Reddick and Yaya Diaby – Photo by: Jeffrey Jones/PR
But I’d be borderline insane to say Tampa Bay will have two double-digit sackers in 2025, as the team hasn’t accomplished that feat since 2000 when Warren Sapp had 16.5 and Marcus Jones had 13. That came after Sapp and Chidi Ahanotu both reached double digits three years earlier in 1997.
While I won’t go as far as predicting Diaby and Reddick to tie for the team lead with 10+ sacks each, I think this duo could get close, with both guys finishing with, say, 8.5 or nine sacks apiece. Reddick is on a one-year deal and is trying to reestablish his value with a big season so that he can get one more big payday next offseason. He’ll be more motivated than ever to produce, and I think he’s going to reach a level that will give Diaby a true threat on the other side of him. That’s something he hasn’t had in his first two years in the league.
Not to mention, the interior duo of Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey is going to create a whole lot of pressure up the middle, flushing the quarterback out to either side. I like Diaby and Reddick to both clean up as a result, and it’ll just so happen that both guys share the lead when the regular season comes to an end with just under 10 apiece.
Josh Queipo: Haason Reddick Returns To Form In Tampa Bay
Haason Reddick was brought in on a single mandate: get after the quarterback. And in case you haven’t noticed, he is really good at that one thing. Using Pro Football Focus’ sack measurement, since 2020 Reddick is fourth in the NFL among edge rushers in sacks with 62. The Bucs’ leadership has spoken publicly about their desire to get more sack production out of the front four. Reddick is second to only Pittsburgh’s All-Pro edge rusher T.J. Watt over that same time period in pressure to sack conversion at 23.75%.
Reddick is extremely motivated to turn things around from his lost season in New York last year where he notched just one sack in 10 games after a lengthy, failed hold out. On a one-year prove-it deal, he is going to be looking to maximize his production to cash in on his next contract.
Bucs OLB Haason Reddick – Photo by: Jeffrey Jones/PR
Todd Bowles is creative in how he uses his front seven and asks his outside linebackers to drop into coverage quite often compared to other defensive schemes in football. But based on the outside linebacker he will do that to varying degrees. Bowles only dropped Jason Pierre-Paul on 4.9% of his drops while he was in Tampa Bay. Compare that to Shaq Barrett (9.5%), Yaya Diaby (9.3%), Joe Tryon-Shoyinka (13.9%), and Anthony Nelson (12.1%).
Reddick is a former off-ball linebacker and certainly has the athletic traits to drop when needed. But the Bucs brought him in to go towards the quarterback, not away from him. Count on Bowles to try and get the most out of Reddick. And that means plenty of quarterback takedowns to lead Tampa Bay – possibly with double digits.
Adam Slivon: A Healthy Calijah Kancey Will Pick Up Where He left Off Last Year
While the Bucs’ outside pass rush will be better this season with Yaya Diaby primed to have a big year and the addition of Haason Reddick, I am still taking the Bucs’ sack leader from last season. Calijah Kancey led Tampa Bay with 7.5 sacks, playing in just 12 games. That is an impressive figure from anyone, especially a defensive tackle. After being sidelined by a calf injury until Week 6, Kancey went on a four-game stretch from Weeks 9-13 where he recorded five sacks.
What has held Kancey back has been early-season calf injuries in each of his first two seasons. That had prevented him from hitting the ground running, but he has done just fine playing catch-up. It would be a huge boon getting him from the start, and it would allow him to fully realize his double-digit sack potential. It is impressive watching the young Bucs defensive tackle work and use every bit of his 6-foot, 280-pound frame. Playing alongside Vita Vea allows him to utilize his elite explosive first step to close the pocket and wrap up the quarterback.
Bucs DTs Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey – Photo by: Jeffrey Jones/PR
Calijah Kancey believes he can lead the entire NFL in sacks.
“I think you’d be looking at the sack leader if [I] suit up for all 17 games,” Kancey said this offseason. Clarifying what he meant, he added, “In the league.”
Kancey has a lofty goal, but he also has the talent and track record to suggest that he will develop into one of the best pass-rushing defensive tackles and the NFL and lead the Bucs in sacks again in 2025.
