Baker Mayfield’s key teammate in Bucs sends strong warning to rest of the teams ahead of 2025 NFL season

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are relying on Baker Mayfield’s talent to lead them through another NFL season. However, the quarterback isn’t the only talent Todd Bowles has at his disposal. In fact, one of his key defensive players has issued a strong warning to the rest of their rivals.

Yaya Diaby joined the Bucs in early 2023 and has gradually become a key piece within the team’s structure. Backed by the impressive number of sacks he’s accumulated so far in his NFL career, the former Louisville standout assures that the best is yet to come.

In a recent conversation with the press, the linebacker asserted that it won’t be easy to stop them starting from Week 1, especially after having solidified a defense that’s becoming increasingly strong at every position.

“I feel like what people don’t realize that that me, Calijah, Vita, it’s really hard to guard all of us one on one,” Diaby said, via Pewter Report. “Just adding somebody like Haason is just going to make it even harder, and it’s going to make the guys on the back end’s job a little easier. I feel like the only thing that separated us last year was everybody wasn’t healthy at the same time and that kind of hurt us a lot and I feel like with a healthy team, I feel like ooh, Tampa Bay is a scary team to face.”

The evolution of Diaby in the NFL

In his first season as a professional with the Buccaneers, Diaby finished with 38 total tackles (25 solo), one forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries, in addition to averaging 7.5 sacks. Although his numbers dropped considerably in his second season, the outside linebacker believes he has improved in other areas.

“Besides the sack numbers, I feel like I made major growth in every other category,” Diaby said. “I just want to thank myself and congratulate myself on that part, you know? I know for sure the sack part is going to come.”

Moreover, he made it clear that his effectiveness in terms of sacks is not his only strength on the field: “I feel like it gets overlooked because when people search up your name, they go straight to sacks because you’re an edge rusher,” Diaby said. “All of the other statistics really don’t show unless you actually search for it. I feel like I improved a lot in everything, run defense and my pass rush ability improved drastically.

“Sometimes the game is a game of inches, you can get there but if you don’t take the quarterback down, you don’t get the sack. I’m proud of myself, that’s what I told myself towards the last couple of weeks. I was just saying how proud I am of myself. The sack number wasn’t where [I wanted it] at but I just let go, let loose, and it helped me out a lot.”