The Tampa Bay Buccaneers entered the 2023 NFL Draft in a tough spot. The team is trying to stay afloat after Tom Brady’s retirement earlier in the offseason but has plenty of veteran talent that some difficult decisions need to be made on.
It is unlikely that the Buccaneers would go into a full tear-down rebuild, but given their salary cap situation, it wouldn’t be the worst idea. So, general manager Jason Licht seemed to go with the best player available approach with the team’s first-round draft pick.
At No. 19 in the 2023 NFL Draft, the Buccaneers selected Pittsburgh defensive tackle, Calijah Kancey. Kancey drew a lot of attention during the pre-draft process with his elite athleticism for a player his size.
He is a bit undersized for a defensive tackle, but he more than makes up for it in other ways and is very difficult to block. In the last two seasons at Pitt, Kancey had 27.5 tackles for loss and 14.5 sacks.
Pairing him with Vita Vea, Tampa Bay is very strong up the middle as their skill sets complement each other well. While it is tough to truly evaluate someone in the trenches during OTAs since the players aren’t in pads and there isn’t much hitting, Kancey’s elite athleticism and burst have still been on display.
However, it isn’t anything physically that he has shown that has caught the eye of head coach Todd Bowles the most. Instead, it is his mentality that Bowles has been most surprised about. Kancey is a very smart player, wanting to learn not only his role but what else is going on around him to take his game to another level.
“He’s smart. He’s a lot smarter,” coach Todd Bowles said. “He’s not just a lineman trying to line up and do things, he’s trying to understand everything on the defensive line and the offensive line, so he knows how to play. I’m very impressed with that.”
There is a lot on the plate for any rookie trying to acclimate themselves to being a professional. For Kancey to be taking that preparation to another level is very encouraging as he will be ready for whatever obstacles are thrown his way.
