Buccaneers edge rusher Yaya Diaby came into the league with a reputation for setting the edge against the run, but his rookie production showed he can do plenty more than that. Last season, Diaby finished tied for eighth in the NFL in quarterback pressures and led Tampa Bay with seven sacks. Even so, that pressure total outpaced his sack count by a wide margin, and that gap became a major focus for him this offseason.
Diaby said he spent the summer working on the part of the job that turns disruption into drive-killers.
“Just focusing on pass rush, man, and finishing,” Diaby said, via the team website. “That’s just been my whole scenario.
Everything everybody’s been saying: ‘He can’t finish. He gets a lot of pressure.’
That’s just been my whole thing this offseason, trying to find ways to finish, trying to find ways to rush smart. Having guys like Calijah [Kancey], you’ve got to be able to rush smart and be where you need to be.
It’s going to help me out a lot.”
In Atlanta, Michael Penix Jr. is back practicing without restrictions, but the timing apparently still isn’t right for him to suit up in Week 1. The Falcons announced that veteran QB Tua Tagovailoa will start and that Penix will be inactive. Penix, the former first-round pick, said he told HC Kevin Stefanski he wasn’t ready yet.
“I had that conversation and I just told him, ‘I’m not where I want to be right now,'” Penix explained via USA Today’s Matt Urben. “I want to be able to be 100 percent so I can help this team win football games. And I’m really close.”
He added that he wants more strength and more confidence in the knee before he gets back on the field.
“I want to be stronger. I want to be able to be out there and give the team 100 percent.
And if I don’t feel like I can do that, that’s not fair for this team, that’s not fair for this organization,” Penix added. “I want to make sure whenever I am out there, I’m 100 percent and there’s no doubt in my mind that I trust my knee and I trust to go out there and help this team win football games.”
In Carolina, Darren Waller says this offseason has been different from the one that led into his stint with the Dolphins last season, which came after he ended his retirement. Waller pointed to a lack of a proper football foundation as something that hurt him a year ago.
“I think last year there was definitely a step back, probably in my long speed,” Waller explained to Panthers.com. “Just because I showed up to training camp with no football foundation of training to the Dolphins.
I think it was just all just a byproduct of showing up playing a football season without laying that entire foundation, thinking you can just show up like the old dude playing pickup at the gym. It’s going to be tough.”
Panthers coach Dave Canales came away impressed after watching Waller through camp, and he described the veteran tight end in simple terms.
“Big and fast,” Canales noted. “The offensive stuff, the playbook stuff has been really smooth, really easy for him, and we have totally different terminology than where he was at in Miami before, but an intelligent guy, hard worker, so he’s been fantastic from a mental standpoint.
And then physically, he looks great, he looks fast…when you look at Darren, you watch him cover ground, and you’re like, ‘Hey, he hit 20.8 today on his GPS on this route,’ and you’re like, he was running that fast? You don’t realize it.
But that’s been cool for Bryce Young to be able to see how his angles change and how to throw it to him, and I’m excited to see what he can bring.”
In Other News...
Emeka Egbuka Is Already Shaping More Than The Bucs Offense
Emeka Egbuka has quickly become part of the Buccaneers everyday conversation for reasons that go well beyond what he does on the field. In his second NFL season, the wide receiver has leaned into a Christian faith that he says anchors his life, and that foundation has carried into the Tampa Bay locker room, where he has taken part in Bible studies with teammates and found support from players and staff who have helped shape his spiritual growth.
For Egbuka, faith is not just a personal detail tucked away from football, but something he says gives him hope, strength and peace in a demanding profession. That kind of presence can matter in a locker room, especially for a young player still growing into his role, and it helps explain why his influence around the Bucs has started to stretch well beyond the offense. [Read more 🡒]
Bucs Receivers Just Added A Wild New Twist To Franchise History
The Buccaneers receiver room found itself in an unusual bit of franchise history this season, with Chris Godwin and Emeka Egbuka both turning in the kind of scoring sequence that stands out even in a league that has seen nearly everything. Sports Illustrated recognized the pair as co-winners of its 2025 Octopus of the Year award, honoring players who score a touchdown and then follow it with two successful two-point conversions in the same game.
Godwin did it against the Falcons in Week 15, while Egbuka pulled off the same rare sequence earlier against the Seahawks. Together, their efforts accounted for two of the three such scoring feats in the NFL this season, a quirky distinction that speaks to just how impactful Tampa Bays pass catchers were when the offense needed points in tight spots. [Read more 🡒]
Buccaneers Suddenly Have A Bigger Ayden Garnes Question Than Expected
Ayden Garnes went from undrafted rookie to one of the more intriguing names in Buccaneers camp almost as soon as the pads came on. He flashed in training camp, then backed it up in the preseason with an interception returned for a touchdown in the opener, the kind of play that gets a player noticed quickly in Tampa Bay. By the time the roster was trimmed, he had earned a place on the 53-man roster and looked like a backup corner with a real chance to push for more.
Now the question around Garnes is no longer whether he belongs in the conversation, but how soon the Buccaneers might need him to be more than depth. A player who impressed enough to make the team after entering as an undrafted rookie naturally carries a different kind of intrigue once the season begins, especially at a position where opportunity can appear fast. For Tampa Bay, Garnes has already gone from camp story to rostered defender, and the next step may be just as revealing. [Read more 🡒]