Bad pattern.

A number of Bucs fans don’t want the team to try sign aging edge rushers. Too much of a gamble, they say. Too old, too hurt.

Well, if you don’t want to go for edge rushers in their primes you better be able to develop them.,

And if you don’t want to pay for studs and you cannot develop an edge rusher, then the only thing left is to get a 30ish edge rusher that’s probably damaged goods.

When Dirk Koetter ran the Bucs, he said something that hit home for Joe, both then and now. “The NFL is a production league,” Koetter said. Produce or watch your back.

Joe’s research revealed unnerving but not surprising intel. Unfortunately, it doesn’t say much for production or development.

Since 2022, the edge rushers/outside linebackers the Bucs have drafted or signed who are still on the roster (just three) had their most sacks as rookies. (Joe did not count David Walker as he has yet to complete a padded practice, much less play in a game.)

Here is what Joe found:

Chris Braswell
2024: 1.5 (sacks)
2025: 1

YaYa Diaby
2023: 7.5
2024: 4
2025: 7

Markees Watts
2023: 1
2024: 0
2025: .5

Notice all three have thus far maxed out their sack production as rookies.

So what does this tell Joe? Simple. They aren’t being coached up.

If you want to argue that YaYa is a better player than he was as a rookie, Joe won’t argue. But the production numbers don’t lie. They are there for all to read. YaYa, who Joe likes a lot as a secondary edge rusher, logged a whopping 268 more snaps on defense last year than he did as a rookie. If you want to argue Bucs coaches are not putting him in position to get more sacks, Joe will very much buy that conclusion.

It may help to ask these guys to focus more on getting after quarterbacks than, as Bowles likes to say, do other things?