YaYa Diaby Has A Byron Young Problem, Among Others
July 26th, 2026
So the edge rusher drafted right before YaYa Diaby in Round 3 of the 2023 NFL Draft has had a similar but significantly better career than Diaby.
That man is Rams edge rusher Byron Young. Each guy has answered the bell for every game through three seasons. Young has 27.5 sacks and 61 quarterback hits and a Pro Bowl trip last season. Diaby has 19 sacks and 47 QB hits.
Diaby was invisible in three postseason games. Young had a big playoff game in a win against the Vikings after the 2024 season.
What they have in common is no contract extension as they enter their contract year (2026). Like the Bucs, the Rams have many strong players and pending contracts issues. They love Young, but he’s got to wait in line. Diaby is in the same boat.
However, Yaya is very much stuck in the mud for a new deal until Young gets one, Joe believes. Why would the Bucs invest before they get sense of the market for Young?
And then there’s Diaby’s challenges within his own team. If rookie Miami Mauler edge rusher Rueben Bain is the real deal and Bucs front office darling David Walker is, too, then Diaby would feel like a luxury the Bucs won’t want to buy. In that scenario, Joe could see the Bucs waving goodbye to Diaby and adding an edge rusher in the 2027 draft.
Again, in that scenario, the team would be feeling awfully great about developing three edge rushers and would like their prospects re-loading the talent pool in the draft.
Big year for Diaby.
July 26th, 2026 at 5:02 pm
I don’t know about that. Diaby feels like a guy that will stick around 8-10 years.
July 26th, 2026 at 5:24 pm
Diaby is not good.
July 26th, 2026 at 5:39 pm
I like Diaby, but he’s an average player – maybe slightly above average. He’s going to need a monster year to get a huge payday.
July 26th, 2026 at 6:03 pm
Diaby is the player the Bucs should extend. With the Help Diaby could explode. If diaby has a 11-12 sack season the Bucs are going to have to pay him 30 million a year. Right know they probably could extend him 17-20 million a year.
July 26th, 2026 at 6:40 pm
Letting YaYa go would put a dent in Licht’s “sign our picks” ego trip.
July 26th, 2026 at 6:51 pm
I respectfully disagree Joe. Yaya has proven to be a decent Edge guy with good potential ahead. He has actually registered sacks in the NFL.No offense but Bain and Walker have proven nothing. They have not put on pads yet. They have zero , I repeat zero sacks in the NFL. Walker is coming off a major injury. I think you are speaking a little early here. I know not much else to talk about now. However even talking about YaYa being expendable before the others guys have put on pads is well fantasy right now in my opinion.
I love Joe Bucs fan, but I am having trouble with this one.
July 26th, 2026 at 6:52 pm
Trade Yaya at the deadline. They have to cut some guys loose to sign Baker, Mauch and many others on the one year deals. Licht has made a mess of the cap. ’27 will be reckoning for Licht if he is still around. Poor Yaya is a casualty. We need to get something for him at least.
July 26th, 2026 at 7:13 pm
Good article Joe, the comp with Young puts YaYa in perspective.
Yaya is a good talker but an average pass rusher – but a good run defender. Bowles will want him since Bowles thinks he has to defend against Jim Brown. With Vita, A’Shawn, and Yaya we have good run defenders but no pass rush.
July 26th, 2026 at 7:15 pm
Why can’t the Bucs, in that dream scenario you put, resign Diaby (they can’t know for sure who will be there for them in the draft) and trade him?
July 26th, 2026 at 7:27 pm
Trade Baker and Via , then trade for Mac Jones and keep Yaya ! And gain some extra draft capital …
July 26th, 2026 at 7:41 pm
The Baker Mayfield contract will affect this decision greatly. If they tag him and end up with a nearly $80 million hit in cap space for Baker, someone has to go next season and Diaby could be that guy.
Personally, I think it would be a dumb move to let Diaby go. It’s far more likely for the Bucs to seek a trade for Godwin to help with the cap hit. Then, it will come down to Mauch vs. Vea if there are still cap room concerns.
July 26th, 2026 at 7:42 pm
I should also point out that a person drafted with a higher pick SHOULD have better numbers than the guy drafted after him. If the Rams had taken Diaby, chances are, the Bucs would have selected Young.
July 26th, 2026 at 7:47 pm
Bucscoot said – “Trade Baker and Via , then trade for Mac Jones and keep Yaya ! And gain some extra draft capital …”
Can’t trade people who don’t have contracts in 2027 unless you are suggesting trading both of them right now. If that’s the case, I have no words that would be nice to describe how idiotic that would be unless you are intentionally trying to tank the entire season.
July 26th, 2026 at 8:03 pm
YaYa is a good solid player against both run and pass. He’ll hold the Edge well and make some plays in the backfield – get you quite a few pressures and 7-10 sacks per year with good talent on the rest of the line. Perhaps most importantly – he has proven durable – always available on game day.
Compared to his draftmate Kancey, for instance – Diaby has made significantly more impact for this team. Not because YaYa is more talented than Kancey – he’s not. Kancey is a real handful when he’s on the field….
But as of right now – I would feel a lot more comfortable extending Diaby to a market value long term deal (which means over $20M per) – than I would guaranteeing a bunch of $ to Kancey…….
Diaby is a keeper – but the Bucs have a lot of big decisions coming up in the next 2 years with all this drafted talent coming to the end of their rookie contracts. Specifically – Diaby and Mauch next offseason – then Kancey, Barton, Tykee Smith, JMac and Bucky coming up for free agency the following year (2028 offseason).
July 26th, 2026 at 8:18 pm
With the exception of last year, young had Aaron Donald pushing in the middle and absorbing double teams. I would say that Yaya has had significantly more double teams than young.
July 26th, 2026 at 8:20 pm
Ya ya nothing! We have no DE’s. Well will see how our pick does out of Miami.
July 26th, 2026 at 8:39 pm
It’s mind blowing how we have so many players making elite money and seemingly so many players that are due for huge contract extensions, yet our roster is mid-tier. One, maybe two players in the top 10 at their positions.
July 26th, 2026 at 9:01 pm
They should not do anything until they see what Yaya does this year with better competition at edge and, hopefully, a healthy DT crew, especially Kancey.
I like Yaya a lot, and I want them to sign him, but do not overpay.
July 26th, 2026 at 9:07 pm
Develop three edge rushers??? And Todd bowls has never develop the double digit sucker… Huh
July 26th, 2026 at 9:08 pm
*He’s never developed a double digit sacker from the edge or anywhere else
July 26th, 2026 at 9:16 pm
Braswell
Tryon-Shoyinka
Vernon Hargreaves
Robert Agauyo
Just a few of Jason Licht’s Front office darlings.
July 27th, 2026 at 12:59 am
“… Diaby would feel like a luxury the Bucs won’t want to buy.”
I think the Bucs will have plenty of “want to”. The question is whether they ruin the roster trying to chase the crazy QB salary bubble.
July 27th, 2026 at 8:48 am
You can never have enough good defensive linemen. They will get him signed.
July 27th, 2026 at 5:07 pm
YaYa has all the physical traits, but needs to play more consistently. So far, it seems like he’s at best a #2, but will never be the #1 edge rusher.
I keep going back to the video of him and Simeon Rice last year… Simeon was showing and telling him all these little technique things, and YaYa was just staring back at Rice like he’d never heard any of it before… who the heck is coaching these guys up and making them better?
July 27th, 2026 at 10:37 pm
Well he at least did try and did more showing up than most other players. I do agree with some of the other posts, that the coaching was lax for some of the younger rookies. Unfortunate, in many ways.