Please Stay Healthy
August 8th, 2026
Bucs DT Calijah Kancey.
It’s such an aching need that the man involved in the discussion knows all too well.
When Bucs defensive tackle Calijah Kancey spoke to the local pen and mic club in training camp, he said his goal is simple: Play 17 games.
Kancey has been a walking injury report in his three Bucs seasons. When Kancey has been on the field, he has been good to excellent. But that’s the problem. Keeping Kancey on the field has been frustrating for the Bucs, and mostly for Kancey.
How important is Kancey? Prickly Pete Prisco of CBS thinks the Bucs’ pass rush as a whole will be determined by Kancey’s health.
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The health of Kancey is vital now that Vita Vea has demanded a trade is nursing a sore back. The fact Vea may have played his last snap with the Bucs sure gives Joe a pain in the backside.
Joe doesn’t know of any NFL team (short of a garbage team that) would lose its starting pair of defensive tackles and actually improve. Throw in that Joe doesn’t know of too many teams that lose a Hall of Fame receiver and their best corner in free agency and actually get better the next season.
So right now, you could make an argument that Kancey is the most important player on the Bucs’ defense.
August 8th, 2026 at 11:05 am
Easily solved-sign the big fella.
August 8th, 2026 at 11:20 am
Don’t worry about the defense. We have a defensive guru as our HC\DC.
Todd always has the passing scheme humming at a championship level.
Greatest coach in the history of the NFL.
Just ask the Glazers.
August 8th, 2026 at 11:21 am
“Stay healthy”
It’s not just Kancey…
– Wirfs
– Goedeke
– Mauch
– Godwin
– B. Irving
– B. Bredeson
– B. Mayfield
– Otton
– Ben-Mo
– AWJ
– D. Walker
– JJ Roberts
– SVD
Who isn’t injured at some point during the season or all season?
The frustrating thing with Kancey is his high level of production when he is on the field…
We all see it. It’s truly frustrating the (you know what) out of me.
If this guy can stay healthy he could be an All-Pro.
IF.
August 8th, 2026 at 11:27 am
In their entire careers, both Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald have only missed six games each due to injury. And Donald played in every game during his first eight years in the league. Didn’t miss a single start!
Reasons for missed games vary.
Some players miss due to a failure to play hurt when others might give it a go. Others play for an overprotective coaching staff. Have some been un-blessed with degenerative body parts subject to easy injury, or are they just unlucky?
Who knows with Kancey? He’s saying all the right things, as all would do in his position, so let’s hope he’s a great player who’s just been unlucky.
I do know one thing; the great ones do everything possible to be out there each and every week. Let’s hope Kancey fits this enviable mold.
August 8th, 2026 at 11:30 am
Team morale is important. When you have a Lynch, Sapp, Brooks and Barber, they can elevate the play of others.
Licht has single handedly destroyed morale. Guys want to get paid. They want to know they are valued.
Licht thinks he solves everything by saying Mayfield is a franchise QB and that he won’t trade Vea.
What he’s really saying is he does not care where they go next year, he’s got their ass for this year and tough on them.
Great job, Licht.
August 8th, 2026 at 11:35 am
Kancey ability to stay healthy is a concern but Morrison seems very fragile since college.
August 8th, 2026 at 11:42 am
The Bucs only have one place to go with injuries and that is no major injuries like last year. It was insane and destroyed their 2025 season. Mike Evans injuries will no longer impact the Bucs. Same with Dean. If the same players continue to get injured every year replace them in next year’s draft or free agency. If they can’t stay healthy replace them. End of story. They are a liability and a season disruptor.
August 8th, 2026 at 12:12 pm
MHK
Agreed and add TB12 to your list of players who elevate.
Licht has never been a great GM, and was about to be run out on a rail before he lucked into BA.
He got even luckier that SF rejected Brady, and he came here with an axe to grind. Tom ran this team for three years (at least two anyway), Bud Licht had little to nothing to do with it.
Fire Bud Licht, Promote Mike Greenberg, and get a real coach in here.
August 8th, 2026 at 12:17 pm
Joe … ‘you could make an argument that Kancey is the most important player on the Bucs’ defense.’
Calijah most likely has excellent POTENTIAL, but PERFORMANCE tells a different story … 29 games, 11.5 sacks, 30 QB hits & 22 TFLs doesn’t scream ‘All-Pro’ Joe.
YaYa was drafted in the 3rd Rnd same year, but his PERFORMANCE tells a different story … 51 games, 19 sacks, 47 QB hits & 38 TFLs. Making a lot less $$$, but his 700 average def snaps per season have been a lot more valuable to me than Calijah’s 400 def snaps average per season.
Still, if I had to choose who’ll potentially be ‘the most important player this season on the Bucs’ defense’ it’d probably be either Anzalone or Trotter. IF they truly excel as our ILBs, this defense will get infinitely better results this season than last year.
August 8th, 2026 at 12:28 pm
Kancey has missed a total of 8 career games with something called a strained calf.
What is that, exactly?
As a kid or adult, have you ever met someone who missed high school or college games due to a strained calf?
Even in touch football, have you ever come across someone who said, “ Sorry boys, I’m out for today. This damn strained calf has got the best of me.”???
Who knows, I’m probably overreacting. Perhaps they’re very painful. It’s just that I’ve heard of this injury before.
Hate to sound like one of those “old school when everything was tougher” guys, but could you imagine these old HOFers missing a game for this reason? Dick Butkus played until he couldn’t stand vertical anymore. Now, the bigger stronger guys miss games with a hangnail.
If Rodney Dangerfield can do the ultra dangerous “Triple Lindy” at 70, no reason Kancey can’t play through a calf strain!
August 8th, 2026 at 12:29 pm
Never heard
August 8th, 2026 at 12:37 pm
Maybe a better off season regime, instead of doritos and video games !!! Summer of 328 glad your back ,only you can be so bleak!! Maybe it’s the mob you still waring evans jock on your head!
August 8th, 2026 at 12:38 pm
We all saw long ago how the Bucs lost their top players.
Dean was in and out since the Super Bowl. He nursed injuries, dropped ints, and otherwise let his place dwindle. After 2024 Licht had had enough, cut Dean’s pay by 70% and pretty much said, “Pretty boy, you can play here one more year to get your mind right and then go away. Don’t have to go away angry, just go away. And don’t let the door hit you where the Good Lord split you.” BTW the 2025 season holdover might just have had something to do with salary cap issues.
Joe also complains about the missing Hall of Fame linebacker. That HoF ILB went away after 2023. All we had left on the field was David: a good player certainly, and a good guy, but his HoF standard only exists in the rear view mirror.
So let’s look at #13. Mike has been injured repeatedly the past six years. His production went down in 2024 (his last-second catch on the last regular season play of the year showed that his streak was really over). Production cratered in 2025 even before the injury bug bit. Honestly Buc fans, did Evans show off HoF stats the last two seasons?
IMO the Bucs lost top-level play from some players they kept on their roster. It isn’t a shame that their time came; it’s a shame that the team didn’t move on.
August 8th, 2026 at 12:39 pm
Joe Says:
Throw in that Joe doesn’t know of too many teams that lose a Hall of Fame receiver and their best corner in free agency and actually get better the next season.
______________________________________________________________
First, without that HOF’er we still have the best receiver room in the league.
Second, Joe, who has been playing the one with the ones? Mek, Tez, Jalen? Who is our starting #1. Has to be Mek, right?
August 8th, 2026 at 12:39 pm
@ja
A calf strain is a mild tear in the calf. It weakens your whole leg and you feel a stabbing sensation anytime you put force on it. You can not play football with that. It will lead to a worse tear that could be permanent damage. And it also puts to much stress on your other leg and Achilles to make up for the loss muscle on the hurt leg. It isn’t something you can’t just play through. It is 100% a can not play injury.
August 8th, 2026 at 12:47 pm
Steve V Says:
“Summer of 328 glad your back ,only you can be so bleak!! Maybe it’s the mob you still waring evans jock on your head!”
Have your fun now. Bowles will prove me correct yet again. He always does.
And you will Pom Pom waive during the long sustained losing streak.
I’ll be laughing at you and others the entire time.
August 8th, 2026 at 12:49 pm
The praise Kancey gets is overblown. He’s a one-trick pony that gets washed out most plays and averages about a sack every 3 games.
He has a below average pass rush win rate among DTs when that’s supposed to be his specialty.
August 8th, 2026 at 12:49 pm
Kancey has to be 100% otherwise those RBs will out run him in coverage 30 yards downfield. Thanks Todd!
August 8th, 2026 at 1:14 pm
Trade the big fella for depth.
August 8th, 2026 at 1:16 pm
@ Summers Eve..Your so common! Lol!
August 8th, 2026 at 1:32 pm
Appreciate that calf strain explanation, Jeffbuc.
What concerns me about Kancey and Bucs injuries in general is the huge number of non contact injuries. Something isn’t right.
August 8th, 2026 at 1:51 pm
Relying on Buster Kancey is a fool’s errand.
August 8th, 2026 at 2:13 pm
JeffBuc—
Got it— thanks for the epidemiological summation.
My online checks are ambivalent at best, centering on the level of damage incurred.
Assuming Kancey’s had to be severe.
August 8th, 2026 at 2:29 pm
Time to move on from VV…he’s becoming more radioactive by the day/practice. He already received one fortuitous early extension with a big pay raise…and expects another. It’s not in the Bucs’ best interest to do that. Raiders would be the ideal trading partner…not the Rams…not the 49ers.
Kancey is the wildcard indeed. It’s basically a contract year for him…hopefully it all comes together for him without injury.
August 8th, 2026 at 3:42 pm
If you didn’t want to lose your best corner, maybe the journalists and fanbase shouldn’t have complained every day- that trickles down to management
August 8th, 2026 at 3:54 pm
The Kancey man can!
August 8th, 2026 at 4:24 pm
I don’t think Kancey is full-time starter. His health record shows he cannot stay healthy for even most of a season. His future is a part time starter and having someone else who can step in and be solid for the other half of the starter snaps in games. I think Calijah gets hurt again during regular season. It’s so unfortunate because he has the ability to be star in this league. But I don’t think he will reach that level in his NfL career.
August 8th, 2026 at 4:41 pm
The most overrated Bucs player to hardly ever play. Hope he proves me wrong.
August 8th, 2026 at 5:50 pm
If I recall correctly we were 3-0 with Kancey and 5-9 without him last year, so yeah I agree with Prickly Pete.
August 8th, 2026 at 6:00 pm
we have more trustworthy depth at honestly every level this year than last. and especially on both sides of the line… which should allow for more rotation, which hopefully will result in way less injury.
August 8th, 2026 at 6:33 pm
Yeah let’s cave to any player who demands a trade at any time. Especially one on the wrong side of 30 and will start declining after he signs a fat new deal.
Nah..JL is playing it correctly. Vita has ZERO leverage. Also, signing Vita doesn’t change anything if Kancey gets hurt. Vita is a NT
Brilliant
August 8th, 2026 at 8:07 pm
@Steve the Vag
You’re clueless and a moron.
August 8th, 2026 at 8:19 pm
If Kancey actually makes it thru a season, it will be interesting to see if he is able to sustain the high level of play he’s shown. We’ve only ever seen the guy with fresh legs and fully healthy until he’s not. Does he have the mental fortitude to play dinged up? Will he be gassed before season’s end? Can he mind the gap as comrades begin falling off? I too b3lieve he is the Rosetta Stone to any kind of successful Bowles’s defense this yr, regardless of Vea. We all saw Vea put in more snaps than ever last year, and that defense stunk. High time we got some high motor guys on the line who move in more than one direction (fwd)
August 8th, 2026 at 8:48 pm
The return of the bigot brigade… Did you guys get together to coordinate your new “names” or have you both been the same a$$hole troll all along ?
Where y’all been ? Did you get your feelings hurt (again) and need to pout for awhile before picking new names and returning to post the same $hit over and over again ? 🙄
August 8th, 2026 at 9:00 pm
Im a clueless “Happy” moron! Try it sometime other then everyone sucks
August 8th, 2026 at 10:09 pm
Dear Mr Prisco,
David Walker is going to surprise a lot of people. He is a Dwight Freeney clone. His game his size his speed all look like Freeney. He will force the coaching staff to let him on the field. If he stays healthy he is going to surprise a lot of O-linemen. He is a match up nightmare because of his size and speed. His first step is explosive but what’s unique is is ability to twist after his first step without losing any speed. He also has a great leverage point. If he stays healthy he will surprise a lot of people. He is a unicorn. He will struggle more with shorter O-linemen.
Let’s hope he has half the career of Freeney. That would be a steal.