Buccaneers linebacker Yaya Diaby totaled 7.5 sacks as a rookie in 2023, finishing fifth in defensive rookie of the year voting. He became a full-time starter in 2024 and played 270 more snaps than as a rookie but made only 4.5 sacks.
Diaby said sack stats aren’t everything.
“Besides the sack numbers, I feel like I made major growth in every other category,” Diaby told the Pewter Report podcast. “I just want to thank myself and congratulate myself on that part, you know? I know for sure the sack part is going to come.”
Diaby was around the quarterback all season with 20 quarterback hits and, per Pro Football Focus, 65 pressures.
“I feel like it gets overlooked because when people search up your name, they go straight to sacks because you’re an edge rusher,” Diaby said. “All of the other statistics really don’t show unless you actually search for it. I feel like I improved a lot in everything, run defense and my pass rush ability improved drastically.
“Sometimes the game is a game of inches, you can get there but if you don’t take the quarterback down, you don’t get the sack. I’m proud of myself, that’s what I told myself toward the last couple of weeks. I was just saying how proud I am of myself. The sack number wasn’t where [I wanted it] at but I just let go, let loose, and it helped me out a lot.”
The team’s outside linebackers combined for only 12 sacks last season, prompting them to sign Haason Reddick in free agency. They expect more this season, led by Diaby, who said “the sack part is going to come.”
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