Bucs general manager Jason Licht sat down with team reporter Casey Phillips recently to discuss a myriad of subjects related to this offseason. During that conversation, one nugget stood out to me. He went into a good bit of detail when Phillips asked him about why the draft is so important to building a successful roster.

“It becomes very important when you have a roster with, now our players earn every penny that they’re making, but we have some players making, you know, the higher end of the salary scale. And you know, when you get to that point, it limits you a little bit in what you can do in free agency. You have to look ahead. You have to look at the future. You have to look at you want to be able to re-sign your really good players when their contracts are up, if you don’t do it beforehand. So, you need an influx of young players that are going to be able to contribute so you can keep the balance of the team.

Bucs OLB Yaya Diaby – Photo by: USA Today

“So, I’m not saying we’re moving on from [or] planning on moving on from anybody, at all. It’s just when you have a quarterback on a second [or] third contract. When you’ve got some other players, and I’m not saying they’re limiting what we can do at all, we’re very happy that we have them. But you need to bring in young players that can help. So, we’ve had a lot of success lately with the draft. We’re signing a lot of our own players which is why we’re in that position and that’s the goal. So, you want to keep drafting well. That’s the secret to uh having sustained success.”

Licht mentioned twice within a single answer the desire and need to re-sign or extend homegrown players. And that streak could continue later this offseason.

Bucs Could Extend Yaya Diaby

Looking at the field of homegrown talent that the Bucs could extend this offseason and Yaya Diaby quickly stands out as a favorite. The team could opt to lock in quarterback Baker Mayfield to a potentially market-setting deal. But the more likely candidate is the rising outside linebacker who looks poised to step up as leader on the defense this year.

Bucs OLB Yaya Diaby and Falcons QB Michael Penix Jr. – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The way the Bucs handled extensions for Luke Goedeke and Zyon McCollum last year shows they can make a move like this without adding a large cash investment up front. That’s important because the team is likely close to their cash spending limit.

Proud of this. Back in DECEMBER I estimated the Bucs would have $50M to spend in cash for FA this year. That was based on a project. of $305M cap. Actual cap was $301.2M so my cash proj. drops to $46.2M.

How close was I? Off by $1.5M. Just enough for them to grab a cheap vet DB. pic.twitter.com/GeIqSyZEHS

— Josh Queipo (@JoshQueipo_NFL) March 19, 2026

When they extended Goedeke and McCollum a year before their rookie deals expired the Bucs only increased their cash payments in 2025 by $2 million. They could do something similar with Diaby allowing them to get him under contract early without overextending the cash budget ownership places on them.

Yaya Diaby’s Value

But let’s talk value.

Here are Diaby’s career numbers through three seasons per Pro Football Focus.

Games – 51
Snaps – 2,083
Sacks – 24
Hurries – 103
QB Hits – 26
Total Pressures – 153
Pressure Rate – 12.8%
FF’s – 3
TFL’s – 21

Bucs OLB Yaya Diaby – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

And here is his production last year:

Games – 17
Snaps – 783
Sacks – 9
Hurries – 43
QB Hits – 10
Total Pressures – 62
Pressure Rate – 13.7%
FF’s – 1
TFL’s – 7

Diaby is on an upward trajectory, and it would make sense for the Bucs to lock him up now before he takes advantage of a free market that just paid Jaelan Phillips $30 million per year.

Looking at some of Diaby’s closest comps over three different time horizons.

*The APY info next to Diaby’s name is regression projection from my own models.

These three comp profiles create a fairly narrow APY band between $19 and $22 million per year. This is supported by regression models that have a similar band of $19.4 – $25.5 million. But there are two recent deals that I think will come up during extension talks between Diaby’s camp and the Bucs’ brass that will have a large bearing on a potential pact. Those two players are George Karlaftis and Odafe Oweh. Here is a direct comparison of the three players over the two years directly preceding their contracts.

Diaby rates close in sack production, and ahead in pressure rate and other explosive plays. This give’s Diaby’s people an opportunity to argue that his APY should eclipse that of the other two. To balance that, Tampa Bay has consistently been able to execute deals where players take slightly less than projections would suggest. I would venture that they can split the APY difference between Karlaftis and Oweh at $23 million per year over four years. Carrying the final year of his rookie, and the final effective contract is five years and $95,674,000 with an effective APY of $19,134,000.

Bucs OLB Yaya Diaby – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

That effective APY would mean the Bucs are paying Diaby less than the Bengals are paying Boye Mafe on a per year basis. Guarantees should come in at just over $50 million. I am estimating full guarantees at $28,174,000 with an additional $22,500,000 vesting on the 5th day of the 2027 league year. Structurally, the breakdown of the deal could look like this.

This assumes a roster bonus in the 2027 season that can automatically convert into a prorated bonus. The following year cap numbers assume that option is converted. Some may say this is too much money for a pass rusher who has not hit double-digit sacks in his career yet. But Diaby’s trajectory and the exploding edge market that is now well over $45 million at the top makes this the going price for a solid edge rusher. And that number will only go up. Best for the Bucs to jump in early.