YaYa Diaby References Players “Not Bought In”
January 6th, 2026
Edge rushers Yaya Diaby (right) and Chris Braswell.
It’s obvious the Bucs have had systemic problems under Todd Bowles.
Many teams have some, but they get hidden when the club is winning.
The Bucs were not a winning team this season. In fact, they had an epic collapse and no football-savvy individuals watched the Bucs in the second half of the season and walked away saying, ‘Man, the Bucs really get after it and play like a bunch of rabid, physical dogs. What a hungry team.’ (See Miami with the entire season on the line.)
Soft!
This is why Joe believes the Bucs overrated the leadership on their roster. Folks at One Buc Palace thought it was elite; it proved to be something far less.
YaYa Diaby spoke out yesterday to Ch. 10 sports director Evan Closky. It seems Diaby sees players that don’t care enough.
“The scheme, you know, is a lot for certain guys and I feel like it’s a lot for you and this is your job, you shouldn’t be here,” Diaby said.
“It’s not going to be easy everywhere you go, you know. And Coach Bowles put us in positions to be successful and if you’re not bought in, like I said, you shouldn’t be here.”
This is one reason Bucs legend Rondé Barber barked on his WFLA streaming show repeatedly about how Todd Bowles should simplify his defense. Too many weren’t executing.
Joe assumes Bowles was too stubborn to do that — in part because Bowles was seeing players do one thing in practice and another in games.
The latter, if true, speaks to the team’s collective focus, and a lot of that is on leadership from coaches to players. Again, Joe is confident the Bucs overvalued their leadership. And only very late in the season did it seem players got benched for screwing up.
Too little. Too late.
To whom was Diaby referring? Joe will take one easy target: invisible second-year edge rusher Chris Braswell. Why? Because Diaby is around Braswell daily and coaches often have said Braswell is still learning his role. Perhaps he needed to try a little harder.
January 6th, 2026 at 8:42 am
Who is Braswell? Never heard of her
January 6th, 2026 at 8:42 am
Perhaps we need a coach that doesn’t put defensive linemen in coverage, it is infuriating to watch.
January 6th, 2026 at 8:43 am
Supposedly this team is filled with “I am that man”. Apparently those men are not bought in. Got it.
January 6th, 2026 at 8:51 am
A great take on this Joe. Ronde hit the nail on the head, if it ain’t working, change it. Defenses need to react quickly and play fast, and Bowles having edge guys drop in coverage was slowing them down. The backend had too many broken coverages – simplify it like Ronde says.
In past year’s losing streaks I complained about the lack of player leadership on defense. This year seemed a little better but still poor. I am particularly concerned with AW3’s play this year and apparent lack of leadership. It a telling sign that the best player on defense, IMO Parrish, is a rookie and the vets seemed invisible too often.
January 6th, 2026 at 8:53 am
Interesting… Bowles SHOULD NOT have to simplify his defense!
January 6th, 2026 at 8:54 am
The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over …. and over again expecting different results. If Bowles can’t make adjustments during the season, why expect change now?
January 6th, 2026 at 8:56 am
Love what Yaya is doing here. That’s twice in as many days, and he’s sticking his neck out. In other words, being brave and bold. Where was that from his bosses earlier this year?
January 6th, 2026 at 8:58 am
Bowles’ fault entirely. The system was too complex and variable. Any time HIS scheme failed, he could blame a player for not being in the right position. It was never his fault.
You can only take so much of being blamed for not understanding a baffling system, before you just check out.
My guess is many on defense realized that they never feel comfortable and never know where to be and never would. So of course they phone it in at that point.
Fire Bowles. Get a hotshot OC mind (Klint Kubiak, Todd Monken, Lincoln Riley) and a failed HC returning to defensive coordinator with a scheme based on skill and power not trickery.
January 6th, 2026 at 9:00 am
How about signing some Veterans? We have one of the youngest defenses in the league, could use some leadership and expertise
January 6th, 2026 at 9:01 am
Is Braswell the backup kicker?
January 6th, 2026 at 9:02 am
I wonder if Braswell will even be here thru his rookie contract. Also, was Zyon put on IR as a way to get rid of him?
January 6th, 2026 at 9:02 am
I keep hearing about problems with players …..but get no names…
Braswell is purely speculation….hasn’t performed, yes….but attitude???
January 6th, 2026 at 9:05 am
Joe, it’s sure starting to sound like what we all kind of figured out just before the end of the season, there were several players in the Bucs locker room that had became a cancer and Bowles leadership to those players had became stale. Waiting to see what the Glazers do. Is it Bowles, the sour players or both ?
January 6th, 2026 at 9:06 am
Fire Bowles
January 6th, 2026 at 9:08 am
This also explains a little of the JPP return. I’m VERY curious how much influence Bowles has on the defensive players that have been drafted since he’s been here. Way too many young guys that have not been developed or not “bought in”.
January 6th, 2026 at 9:13 am
It’s pretty clear that we do not have enough draft picks this spring. Can we find a way to get 25 or so?
January 6th, 2026 at 9:17 am
The entire Buccaneers organization has turned into the Keystone Cops.
PATHETIC.
January 6th, 2026 at 9:19 am
Who is Braswell, you ask? He is one of many in the long line of Licht’s draft busts on the defensive side of the ball. I know, it’s getting hard to remember all their names.
Okay, okay. I will give credit where credit I’d due. Diaby was a good pick.
January 6th, 2026 at 9:23 am
I wasn’t bought in either after they lost to the saints, falcons and then the dolphins.
January 6th, 2026 at 9:23 am
They probably gave up on him.
January 6th, 2026 at 9:24 am
@Jack Burton Mercer
I’ve always said that about them & how they need to trade down as much as possible.
January 6th, 2026 at 9:25 am
Simplify the system? Our players can’t figure it out? Every team we play in one week figured it out!
January 6th, 2026 at 9:25 am
The problem is His Failureness.
FIRE THE PROBLEM.
Fire the Failure.
January 6th, 2026 at 9:26 am
That’s what happens when your teammates don’t respect your head coach.
January 6th, 2026 at 9:28 am
People saying that Bowles should simplify his defense are not thinking rationally. What do you think opposing QBs would do with a simple defense?
Have you people forgotten this is the same coach who’s defense kept the Chiefs to 9 points in the Super Bowl?
This season is more of a player issue. If the Bucs fire Bowles, the next guy isn’t going to turn things around with these players.
January 6th, 2026 at 9:29 am
That is called bad coaching!!!
January 6th, 2026 at 9:32 am
Brian Flores is a Free agent coach FYI
unless he becomes a head coach. He can be had a d coordinator 🤙🏾
January 6th, 2026 at 9:36 am
“Have you people forgotten this is the same coach who’s defense kept the Chiefs to 9 points in the Super Bowl?”
lol have you forgotten 3rd and 28? it was much more recent. stop living in the past. bowles is cooked as a DC.
January 6th, 2026 at 9:37 am
Daryl Green – Flores is a good choice!
January 6th, 2026 at 9:37 am
To add, and I can’t believe I’m giving props to this guy, but I think Rod Munch is correct that we should keep Bowles and Baker for one more year and if it doesn’t work out then clean house. Firing Bowles doesn’t really fix anything. What if the new coach comes in and doesn’t want Baker and then brings in some middling QB for a “competition” because the other guy is his guy? Do you really think that’s a recipe for winning the division?
If the Bucs make any changes then it should be wholesale changes. Players, coaches, and executives.
January 6th, 2026 at 9:39 am
I didn’t see Todd Bowles out there playing defense. I did see our highly paid, alleged great safety be completely out of position there.
January 6th, 2026 at 9:39 am
Have no worries, fellow Bucs fans, we get to relive this entire nightmare next season, too!
Thanks a lot, Glazers!
January 6th, 2026 at 9:41 am
Gosh Joe not a word about Diaby saying that they basically quit contact practices after the bye week and players were not ready to play. Or were other reports wrong. This mess is a coaching failure, period.
January 6th, 2026 at 9:43 am
Joe … ‘To whom was Diaby referring?’
Pure speculation Joe, and unfair to Chris Braswell. He got a grand total of 283 def snaps this year, producing 1 sack & 4 QB hits. Along with that he managed 30 tackles (21 solo), only missed 1 tackle (3.2%) and was targeted 7 times with 5 completed (71.4%).
What none of us know in any of that is the game situations Bowles used Braswell in. Was it mostly running plays? Mostly passing plays? A 50-50 combination? The data doesn’t provide that info. So MAYBE Chris did exactly what Bowles asked him to do when he put him in; we don’t know.
If you take the time to look at Diaby’s 2025 results, I wouldn’t be talking too disparagingly if I were him. YaYa got 783 def snaps this year, about THREE times what Braswell got. He got 7 sacks & 19 QB hits, along with 50 tackles (29 solo), with a Missed Tackle Rate of 9.1% this year. He was targeted 10 times, with 10 completed (100%). I think I see several parts of his game he might wanna work on.
January 6th, 2026 at 9:45 am
Yep lots of finger pointing when it’s obvious where the problem lies
January 6th, 2026 at 9:46 am
If you combine Yaya’s comments with the PR article about them not practicing live enough, the picture is becoming clearer and it is on the coaching staff. It’s football not brain surgery but if you don’t rep out the 20-30 blitz/coverage variations live your execution will suffer.
January 6th, 2026 at 9:46 am
BigSombrero … ‘not a word about Diaby saying that they basically quit contact practices after the bye week and players were not ready to play. ‘
I’m now seen that (no contact practices after the BYE week) in a number of comments, but have yet to see anyone in the media verify it as FACT.
Joe … What’s the deal? If the Bucs weren’t having contact practices after the BYE week, that’d explan a helluva lot about why we lost 6 of 8 after the BYE. Can y’all verify any of that?
January 6th, 2026 at 9:46 am
Not defending Bowles but we have not been putting linemen in coverage. We are a base 3-4 team, Though I did notice an increase in 4-3 in the last 2 games. Our so called edge rushers are Outside Linebackers. These positions naturally mix coverage and pass rush. Just wanted to clear this up as I have seen it mentioned over and over. My problem is when we do rush them they are just being held up on blockers and not fighting off. I also see YaYa getting held by his jersey far too many times and it is not being called. Last week’s game looked like ALL linemen and linebackers were rushing half speed and pumping breaks rather than attacking. Since they were all doing it I assume they were being coached to do that. I think the defense overall from rushing and covering was schematicaly questionable. For 3 years we still can’t cover backs and tightends over the short middle.
January 6th, 2026 at 9:47 am
Apparently Todd’s opponents, thought his defense was simple enough for them, ask kirk cousins, and others
January 6th, 2026 at 9:49 am
D-Rome nailed it. It is a player issue. That’s why the Glazers will not fire Bowles.
January 6th, 2026 at 9:49 am
Thank you! It should be evident to some of the mouth breathers here, but apparently not. It’s much easier to cry, “WhY iZ HAsAaN RedDiCk iN COvErAge?!?”
January 6th, 2026 at 9:57 am
“Have you people forgotten this is the same coach who’s defense kept the Chiefs to 9 points in the Super Bowl?”
lol have you forgotten 3rd and 28? it was much more recent. stop living in the past. bowles is cooked as a DC.
Have we also forgotten the wide ass open Cooper Cup that knocked the Bucs from the playoffs.
January 6th, 2026 at 10:02 am
It was probably Anthony Nelson after Bowles had him out in coverage on James Cook. Would you blame Nelson for being upset? What kind coach puts his player in such a terrible position?
January 6th, 2026 at 10:02 am
Red- You stole my thunder! Having DL play coverage is a disaster waiting to happen.
I would like to point out the number of times that Bowles’ defense is referenced as “one of the most blitzing” in the league (top 5). You would think that with all that blitzing that we’d be at the top or near the top of every defensive pressure category! Not even close; 25th in “hurries”, 23rd in “pressures”, 17th in “sacks”.
So, if you see that the blitz isn’t getting there…
January 6th, 2026 at 10:05 am
who is chris brawsell you ask…?
he is a man who sells bras…a bra salesman, working in the local tampa area
January 6th, 2026 at 10:06 am
I love YaYa being a leader and speaking up!! He also went On Record and called out Todd Bowles super soft approach to practice. Seems Todd was implementing a lot more walk throughs after the bye, which resulted in a very unprepared, slow, lazy looking team. Mental reps only show up so much on Sundays! While I can somewhat understand because he was worried about more injuries, but man, the totality of it was a huge mismanagement!!!
January 6th, 2026 at 10:06 am
Oh, and if you’re going to be blitzing, maybe walk the DBs up to the LOS instead of ten yards off?!
January 6th, 2026 at 10:10 am
Anyone defending Bowles and his scheme either has an agenda or is just completely clueless when it comes to football. The players have changed over the years and Bowles defense continues to get carved up by backup and rookie QBs. He defense is only confusing to his own players and not opposing QBs and OCs who consistently have moved the ball on them.
3rd and 28 and most Bucs fans just knew they would give it up with the season on the line.
Fire Bowles or keep him and continue to watch medicore defense again next year, regardless of who is signed and drafted.
Pathetic
January 6th, 2026 at 10:11 am
YaYa has been doing a good job this season. However, it’s not on the players to make other players step up. It is up to the coaches. If you are around a few people that are not performing, and you are doing all you can; the person overseeing them should be addressing it to that individual, not blanketing it across the team. Something has been wrong since the bye. Not saying it’s all on Todd and other coaches, but it isn’t all the players either. They have had weeks to address it.
January 6th, 2026 at 10:18 am
D-Rome
Have you people forgotten this is the same coach who’s defense kept the Chiefs to 9 points in the Super Bowl?
Did you forget mahomes was injured? Did you forget he was missing two starting linemen? Did you forget what chiefs did to us a few weeks before the Super Bowl and why Winfield got fined for the deuce sign. Tyreke hill had like 280 yards in tha game and was unstoppable. We got the superbowl victory but we did it without blitzing because of injuries. That wasn’t Bowles that’s called a veteran defensive line just like last years eagles
January 6th, 2026 at 10:20 am
Bowles defense no longer works! He’s living off his 2020 SB dominance. The league has caught up and he hasn’t adjusted. Numbers don’t lie!
January 6th, 2026 at 10:21 am
Honestly, I think some of the defensive players knew that Bowles system wasn’t sound, so it’s hard to get “buy-in” on something that’s flawed to begin with.
January 6th, 2026 at 10:32 am
Put it altogether.
Team could walk through the scheme in practice but not execute it at game speed.
Coacing it better never happened and the practices never conditioned the players to play it better.
Obviously not Bowles fault!!!
January 6th, 2026 at 10:44 am
Tired of the hate on Braswell. You can’t develop any football players if all you’re doing is walkthroughs every week! What edge rushers have Todd Bowles and Larry Foote developed into a sack star in their entire careers?! Anyone?!
January 6th, 2026 at 10:44 am
Yea some of this might be on the players but a lot of this is on Bowles. If the scheme is to complicated then you as a coach need adjust to make things work for the players you have. Being stubborn which Bowles is and doing the same thing over and over again that is not working is insanity. So many coaches adjust and put players in position to succeed not Bowles he thinks he is a genius.
January 6th, 2026 at 10:47 am
If Brasswell was still learning his role after a couple of seasons, that reflects poorly as to his motivations, mental capacity/tanasty. What made TB the goat? Mental tanasty.
No one was willing to go the lengths of TB. Players need to push themselves mentally beyound what they think they can do. One’s physical ability pales to their mentality but the TD approach can push them into the next level.
Try it…TD proved it.
January 6th, 2026 at 10:52 am
Makes sense why the injuries were happening still after the bye. When the body isnt conditioned to take hits, sort of like developing callouses, then it causes pain and possible injury. Team got soft, that much was evident when the tackling went down the drain. What was he expecting to happen if we made the playoffs? we just continue to do walk throughs? that makes no sense.
January 6th, 2026 at 10:57 am
Braswell was able to pull the wool over Lichts eyes–he thought Braswell was a sure thing. Bowles and his coaching staff left this kid behind for whatever reason. So cut him or keep him but definitely stop counting on him to do sht, and it is a nobrainer to fire Bowles and bring in a DC that has a decent track record not a mediocre loser like Bowles.
January 6th, 2026 at 11:00 am
Bucs need a new DC if they decide not to fire Bowles. Also Licht should not be trusted to draft defensive players. He is clueless on the defensive sided the ball when it comes to players. Starting rookies in the secondary is just not working.
January 6th, 2026 at 11:09 am
Humor us and bring back our legend of a coach. Remember he’s won 3 straight divisions in arguably the worst division in football. We’ll hear the same famous phrase: ‘Coaches got to coach it better; players got to play it better.’ You don’t say?
If Todd comes back, this would have to be a make-or-break year for him and Licht together.
January 6th, 2026 at 11:35 am
Lastbeing, NO! Fire that dope today. If he coaches next year, I doubt that I will buy the $400 Youtube NFL package.
Bailing out after 1968 is his crap continues.
January 6th, 2026 at 11:46 am
This is called “losing the locker room.”
January 6th, 2026 at 12:13 pm
So much ‘smoke’ since the season has ended.
Obviously, there were locker room issues. Many of us speculated as much after the post buy slide started. Richard Sherman knows what it is – has anyone contacted him????
Two surprises just before the season started were the bag of $$$ the Bucs gave McCollum and the pay cut and essentially bon voyage deal they gave Dean. Then the use of Morrison platooning with Dean – that made absolutely no sense as we watched the kid get torched. Then watching the big money guys on D – AWJ and ZMac play like garbage.
Pretty sure that has nothing to do with more that has nothing to do with more full contact practices and more of guys just being pissed.
January 6th, 2026 at 12:15 pm
Teams can have 14 hitting practices during regular season. 11 in the first 11 games (1 a week) then 3 the remaining 7 weeks. Wonder if they run tackling drills, hit tackling dummys, etc? We definitely have issues bringing down the ball carrier.
January 6th, 2026 at 12:26 pm
Given the large number of walkthroughs we had, which practices was Bowles seeing this execution in?
January 6th, 2026 at 12:36 pm
I believe Bowles DID simplify his defense at the end of the season, which is why they weren’t heating up young QBs like Shough and Evers. But either way it’s a problem. If the players can’t execute the defense, that’s a problem. If the players aren’t being coached right or put in positions to succeed, THAT is a problem too. Either way, it reflects badly on Bowles. I imagine he has a pretty big say in defensive personnel.
January 6th, 2026 at 12:40 pm
Bowles blaming players’ execution every week reminds me of what happened with Matt Eberflus last year in Chicago. After awhile the players got fed up and basically said “When you stop sucking as a coach, then talk to us about our execution.” And that was the end of Eberflus.
January 6th, 2026 at 12:56 pm
He should have included AWjr. Would take 2 Tykee Smith’s at safety. Tried to tell all that Nick Emanworri was the guy Bucs should have drafted at 19. Winfield is eternally overrated. Get something for him while Bucs still can. There might be a team dumb enough to give up a high 2nd round. For all that gushed about the third best receiver,EE, on Ohio State’s 2024 team Emanworri with his size and speed was the right pick. Watch how well he will play in playoffs.
January 6th, 2026 at 1:22 pm
@Gipper
Yeah I would’ve considered Emmanworri, too!
January 6th, 2026 at 2:18 pm
As far as Braswell is concerned, I read that as he doesn’t buy in to edge rushers dropping into coverage. While I agree with him on that front, he’s getting paid damn good money to be on this team. Even if he doesn’t love how he’s being used, he should still give it his all instead of pouting like a baby. But now that the season is over, I think we’ll see that a LOT of players weren’t bought in and that was because they didn’t trust what they were being asked to do by this coaching staff.
January 6th, 2026 at 2:23 pm
Young men with brains are waking up to the long term effects football has on your body and avoiding the game. Bowles scheme is apparently too complex for the rest. So perhaps it would be better to run something simpler like they do at the University of Miami. The only people being confused by Bowles defense are his own players.
January 6th, 2026 at 2:24 pm
Offenses were taking advantage of Bowles zone coverage all year. Players get disenfranchised then coast and collect a paycheck. Bowles should be fired. Let’s be honest Dean had a good year because he bet on himself. He took a pay cut to void the last year of his contract so he could be a free agent. This was his last year as a Buc. He needed to ball out to ensure his future payday. The rest of the veterans on defense checked out because they don’t believe in the system.
January 6th, 2026 at 2:35 pm
So there going to Buy in Next year. I don’t believe it
January 6th, 2026 at 2:38 pm
So there going to Buy in Next year. I don’t believe it Yaya is Definitely talking about Reddick at least who else you think he’s talking about
January 6th, 2026 at 2:47 pm
Say Joe, Braswell? Who is that guy? Does he play fottball in the NFL? Never heard his named called on the field. Is he one of our practice squad players?
January 6th, 2026 at 2:47 pm
Agreed! And BTW, Where was Reddick?
January 6th, 2026 at 3:26 pm
its reddick imo
GO BUCS!!!!
January 6th, 2026 at 3:42 pm
if these guys quit this year -they’re going to buy in next year? sounds like they need to go back to the drawing board and play basic football. thinking about 2020 Brady made a lot of insane plays that Baker never will. Brady’s bomb to mike evans brought us back till cupp beat us in an ill timed blitz. doubtful Baker would have hit that or the pass to scotty miller. every time baker went deep after the bye he got picked or incomplete. Baker was unable to put the team on his back and make plays to win. next year looks very bleak, also the fan base is checking out …so they can keep todd but the players and fans are deserting
January 6th, 2026 at 4:21 pm
Braswell need to go. He is soft and avoids contact whenever possible. Can’t even spell the word swarm
January 6th, 2026 at 4:52 pm
Fire all 3 and rebuild
January 6th, 2026 at 4:54 pm
Jim Fletcher Says:
January 6th, 2026 at 2:47 pm
Agreed! And BTW, Where was Reddick?
******************
Reddick was coaching lol that’s the last I read
January 7th, 2026 at 7:11 am
Should a defensive lineman ‘buy in’ to covering a tight end or running back in a 3-4 or 4-4 scheme? Since when is coverage more important than an edge rush?