A Calijah Kancey Breakout Would Be Big
October 13th, 2026
Defensive tackle Calijah Kancey.
Rueben Bain isn’t the only guy in the front-seven who has had a disappointing year.
On the front line, Calijah Kancey has been more rumor than impactful. Here or there he makes a play, but geez, he’s a shell of himself from two years ago when it looked like he was on the cusp of establishing himself as one of the better game-wreckers at defensive tackle.
The Bucs are playing good defense. And that’s very comforting since the Bucs are just as bad as ever at getting quarterbacks on the ground. Kancey last had a sack on Dec. 29, 2024 in a blowout win over the Stinking Panthers.
Yeah, Joe knows Kancey has missed a ton of time, but that’s not good for a starting defensive tackle to go 22 months without a sack, especially with his speed.
Kancey has knocked quarterbacks down twice this season. His season-high was eight in 2024. Per Pro-Football-Reference.com, Kancey has five pressures.
Kancey does have three quarterback hurries (don’t ask Joe what the difference is between a pressure and a hurry — neither necessarily prevents the quarterback from completing passes). Those three hurries match Kancey’s season-high.
If Kancey can get going, the way the guys behind him are playing, it sure would help the Bucs defense choke out offenses.
Calijah Kancey is so explosive upfield man pic.twitter.com/YjCHUY2iWC
— JP Acosta (@acosta32_jp) October 9, 2026
October 13th, 2026 at 4:11 am
Man I wish Todd Bowles would let his dog Just go eat one game just let the D line go sack the QB every game I watch they have so many other responsibilities besides getting pressure on the QB it gets so frustrating like just try it see if it works the one player getting constant pressure he won’t play enough because he’s not great at stopping run let Walker Go man dude is a problem for these tackles dude has real speed
October 13th, 2026 at 7:25 am
It’s nobody on the defensive lines fault. It’s not a talent issue it’s the way the game is coached. There just doing what there told to do. That’s the sad truth. If we had a different coordinator I guarantee we would have more sacks then we do right now.
October 13th, 2026 at 7:57 am
Jeffibuc … ‘They’re just doing what they’re told to do. If we had a different coordinator I guarantee we would have more sacks then we do right now.’
Yes ‘they’re just doing what they’re told to do’ but there must be more to it than just that. Bowles’ defenses have been very consistent over his years here in producing sacks; the seasonal totals have always been in a very narrow range, from a low of 44 (in 2022) to a high of 48 (in 2020). UNTIL last year, when we only had 37. And now this year we’re on-track to only get 20-21. Vea’s been the ‘beast in the middle’ all those years, so that hasn’t changed. Bowles use of the Nickel hasn’t changed very much at all either; he ‘pays for it’ by only keeping 2 DLinemen on the field while the Nickel is out there.
So what’s going on this season? Among our OLBs, Walker has 2 sacks (in only 71 snaps) & Nelson has 1 sack (in only 89 snaps). But Diaby (187 snaps), Bain (111 snaps) & Muhammad (146 snaps) all have 0 sacks. Interesting that our 2 OLBs with the LEAST def snaps (160 together) have 3 sacks but our 3 OLBs with the most def snaps (444 together) have ZERO sacks. Doesn’t seem to make any sense.
October 13th, 2026 at 8:47 am
Prediction for tomorrow’s practice status.
Kancey. DNP. Breakout.
October 13th, 2026 at 8:49 am
Dak was averaging 71% completions, but the Bucs held him to 57% with 2 INTs. He didn’t take a sack because he was forcing the ball out before he was ready.
October 13th, 2026 at 9:02 am
Kancey has been knocking on the door, problem is he’s getting doubled on 37% of his snaps, but still generates 12.8% pressure on pass rush reps.
Problem with looking at any of our DLs success soley w/ the barometer being sacks, you kind of lose track of the fact through 5 games that teams have been trying to get the ball out ridiculously fast to negate the rush be it with just 4 or a blitz. We also haven’t been in positions to where we can force teams into having to pass to come back in order to max out pass rush opportunities.
October 13th, 2026 at 9:39 am
WBL … Personally can’t see using Kancey as much as Bowles has used him through these first 5 games. Bucs are using 2 DLinemen on a tad over 60% of their defensive plays. I know that Todd values the Nickel more than most, but our pass rush with only 2 DLinemen plus 2 OLBs (IF they both pass rush) isn’t getting it done.
Today’s QBs are much better at getting the ball out super-quick than many or most from the past. The good news is that they’re ‘only’ completing a tad over 66% of their passes (and the vast majority of those have been short passes). That must be Todd’s goal, since we’ve allowed 66% passes since way back in 2022, when we only allowed 64%. We’re apparently getting enough pass rush to keep opposing QBs from having the time to throw very many deep passes.
Personally I’d like to see Robinson be used more than Kancey, as well as Roberts.
October 13th, 2026 at 10:04 am
“I know that Todd values the Nickel more than most, but our pass rush with only 2 DLinemen plus 2 OLBs (IF they both pass rush) isn’t getting it done.”
This has been the case since Bowles got to town. Our problem isn’t a personnel problem or a matter of application, fans want to see more sack production it’s going to have to come by way of forcing teams out of that quick passing game.
Right now, through 5 games QBs we’ve faced thus far are getting the ball out a combined average of 2.19 seconds on 172 pass reps and we’ve applied recordable pressure on 41% of those pass defense reps. The fastest QB getting the ball out so far was Burrow at an avg of 1.95 seconds>While it made it harder to sack Burrow it also helped limit Chase & Haggins on the boundaries as Cincy didn’t have alot of moderate-slow developing deeper route . The slowest QB passing against
Again, I think sacks as the main barometer of success for any DLmen is kind of takes away from looking at how we’re played as a defense and why our sack numbers are so paltry. Not to say it’s an excuse, but it’s been a thing for a minute now. Kancey has been facing the highest rate of double teams in his time with the team and it seems fronts are keying on him to slow down his best tendency which is-the ability to penetrate and disrupt. IIrc there were actually a few pressure he had on Dak and paird with Vea they did a decent job pressing the pocket all night. It’s not all about sacks.
October 13th, 2026 at 11:11 am
When offenses face Todd Bowles, the know he will likely blitz at a high rate and they game plan to get the ball out quickly.
I do agree w Warren about how the defense is playing. It has a lot to do with lack of sacks.
As for Kancey, he really needs Vita to start requiring more double teams. The reason the Bucs decided it was so important to pay Vitaz is due to him taking on double teams. But this year, almost every offense we’ve faced has paid more attention to Kancey. I’d like to see more twist with Walker and Bain coming free in the middle. We saw more of that on Thursday and it was very effective.
October 13th, 2026 at 11:14 am
When Vea gets double teamed Kancey and others need to feast. When some decide to just lean on a lineman they might as well just go sit down and let the next guy play. Not to mention it is a slap in the face to Vea who is constantly taking on the doubles for them. We desperately need two guys in the game at the same time that offenses have to account for. One is Vea but… Anyone remember Suh? I guaranty you that Vea does.
Go Bucs!
October 13th, 2026 at 11:56 am
The ol’ “IF” term, kind of like “potential”!
The name of the game is production. Right now, he’s not providing it.
October 13th, 2026 at 12:18 pm
garro … ‘We desperately need two guys in the game at the same time that offenses have to account for. One is Vea but… Anyone remember Suh? I guaranty you that Vea does.’
Ding, ding, ding; we have a winner. Thanks Garro, our problem isn’t Vea, it’s who he’s paired with in those 2-man fronts. And the majority of the time, it’s been Kancey, not Robinson. In effect, Kancey has taken the place of Suh … unsuccessfully. Calijah’s quick, but that only gets you so far in the NFL. Combine that quickness with size (and strength), and you’ve got something special. But that’s not Kancey.
I still think he should be used more towards the outside in 3-man fronts (more like a DE?). He’s not just quick but he’s also fast (4.67 secs in the 40). Admittedly not as fast as Diaby (4.51 secs) but faster than Bain (estimated at 4.72 secs in the 40).
October 13th, 2026 at 1:45 pm
When Kancey was drafted, they said he was available because he was too small.
Maybe “they” were right.
October 13th, 2026 at 2:27 pm
Wrong HC/DC. A lot of the young guys who’ve played for the Bucs look like they learned very little about how to excel in the NFL. JTS, Braswell, and Logan Hall come to mind.
October 13th, 2026 at 4:06 pm
He and Yaya have been disappointing as far as pass rush. I know many say Bain, but I don’t expect anything from a rookie, no matter what the hype.