Calijah Kancey Is Another Defender Gone AWOL
October 6th, 2026
What happened?
It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where Calijah Kancey is?
Of the many, many, many defenders who have come to the Bucs in recent years and either regressed to the point they are unrecognizable or vanished into thin air, is the latest Calijah Kancey?
Quick: Can you recall a play that Kancey, a defensive tackle, made this year? Joe looked up his game log and Joe was shocked by how… white it is. Just shocked.
Kancey has one quarterback hit on Packers signal-caller Jordan Love and three tackles total. For the season!
Who kidnapped Kancey?
Yesterday in his day-after presser, KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles was asked for an eval of Kancey. His reply wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement.
“He’s playing hard,” Bowles said. “Some weeks, he has production; some weeks he just misses some.”
What? “Production?” What production? Three tackles in four games from a starter is “production?”
“We’ve got to get a little more production,” Bowles added about Kancey. “But he does wreck the backfield, and he’s playing hard.”
Joe can just hear his good friend Bernie Miklasz, the retired columnist/radio host and NFL beat writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, howling out loud. Miklasz would become enraged at Bowles’ “playing hard” line.
Miklasz used to bark about how the very least one should expect from a professional athlete is to work/play hard.
This is what got so many Bucs fans so steamed at Gerald McCoy; he wrecked backfields with little to show for it but losses that piled up. But at least GMC made plays along the way and landed in six consecutive Pro Bowls.
Since Todd Bowles became head coach, which drafted Bucs defensive players have improved? Joe Tryon-Shoyinka never did. Neither did Chris Braswell. YaYa Diaby had 7.5 sacks as a rookie and has gone downhill since. Now, you don’t even know if he’s on the roster.
Logan Hall didn’t develop and is now a part-time player for the Texans.
Did Kenny Britt improve? Has SirVocea Dennis? What happened to Antoine Winfield after he made All-Pro?
Has fifth-round pick Zyon McCollum improved? Sure. Has Benjamin Morrison improved? Maybe. Tykee Smith? Probably. The jury is out on Elijah Roberts and David Walker.
Jacob Parrish looks like a stud.
The amount of high draft picks on defense, specifically in the front seven, in recent years who have fizzled is astonishing.
And it’s too much of a coincidence for Joe that high draft picks that fell off the map have been on defense (Joe’s hoping Emeka Egbuka doesn’t join that list).
Two years ago, Joe thought Kancey was on the cusp of making a Pro Bowl. He had that kind of impact.
What happened? If you see Kancey out on the street somewhere, please call One Buc Palace. The Bucs need him.
October 6th, 2026 at 3:31 am
He’ll hit the IR soon enough.
October 6th, 2026 at 3:44 am
Honestly, what is this coach done to justify keeping his job or even getting it in the first place?
October 6th, 2026 at 3:45 am
Bowles takes promising young talent on defense and turns it into a turd. It is mind boggling the Glazers are allowing him to make this the worst franchise in the league.
October 6th, 2026 at 4:49 am
It’s the Glazers’ ideology. Let’s remember millionaires run in different social groups than commoners like us. Ideology brings them approval and acceptance. They are fine with the status quo. Only if and when things become financially intolerable will they act. For now, deal with it.
October 6th, 2026 at 5:03 am
Look at the jets when Bowles had a whole defensive line full of #1 draft choices the same thing,
October 6th, 2026 at 5:04 am
Bowles and his crap staff he keeps around clearly cannot develop players. This has been obvious for years now. At this point it reflects poorly on Gboys and I think they need to just sell the team because their incompetence is evident going back many years other than lucking out to get Brady.
October 6th, 2026 at 5:40 am
That all boils down to coaching, IMHO a coach needs to be a disciplineary. Bowles instills no discipline in this team.
October 6th, 2026 at 6:23 am
No its another licht first round disaster
October 6th, 2026 at 6:35 am
It’s about time for his annual 10 week injury, so I assumed he wasn’t playing.
October 6th, 2026 at 6:47 am
The defense is stacked for a 4-3 scheme….unfortunately Bowles is going to run his blitz happy scheme that focuses on featuring the secondary
October 6th, 2026 at 6:57 am
Believe it or not Jose, Buster Kancey is actually living UP to expectations. This is what should have been expected of him from the beginning. He’s just too small to be a quality DL in the NFL. He’s already wearing down from his near continual string of injuries from having to play against guys 50 pounds heavier than him.
I hope I’m wrong but this is my reading.
October 6th, 2026 at 7:15 am
I’m not calling him a BUST – YET…
But I will call him “BUS” for now. He is close to earning that “T” very soon.
October 6th, 2026 at 7:28 am
His past injuries have maybe robbed him of what he SHOULD be? Otherwise I can report not having seen him in the vicinity of any stadium on Sundays when the Bucs have played. Maybe get Detective Kenda, someone might have murdered the man’s ability through poor coaching.