NFL Sack Leader In 2025?

In his first two years at the NFL level, Bucs defensive tackle Calijah Kancey has shown flashes of being a dominant pass rushing force. The problem? Kancey has yet to play a full 17-game season.

As a rookie, Kancey suffered a calf injury early in training camp that cost him valuable practices, as well as preseason reps. He made it back for the start of the regular season, but left his NFL debut quickly after re-aggravating that calf injury.

He went on to play 14 games as a rookie, totaling four sacks and 34 pressures. The former Pitt Panther then added 1.5 sacks and 11 pressures over two playoff games.

After such a strong finish to his rookie campaign, Kancey looked primed for an even bigger breakout in 2024. He followed through on that — only it came after another delay. After injuring the other calf on the Friday before the team’s regular season opener, he missed the first five games of the regular season.

Despite missing those five games, Kancey still led the team with 7.5 sacks in his second season. He notched those 7.5 sacks and 39 pressures over 12 games.

In his career between the regular season and playoffs, Kancey has 13 sacks and 85 pressures. For the 2023 first-round pick, it’s all about avoiding that early-season injury and suiting up for a full season.

So, what could a healthy Calijah Kancey do with a full 17-game season? The 24-year-old was asked that question on Monday afternoon as the Bucs began their offseason program.

“I think you’d be looking at the sack leader if [I] suit up for all 17 games,” Kancey said.

The sack leader in Tampa Bay or the sack leader of the entire NFL?

“In the league,” he said.

By the way, Cincinnati defensive end Trey Hendrickson led the league in sacks last year with 17.5. So Kancey would probably need to at least double last year’s sack total to achieve that lofty goal.

Calijah Kancey, Bucs Defense Want To “Raise The Bar” In 2025

Last year, Tampa Bay had a prolific offense that ranked in the top five of just about every category. So, when you looked at the team’s shortcomings, most of them fell on the defense.

That’s something Calijah Kancey and his defensive teammates want to change in 2025.

“We definitely want to raise the bar here,” Kancey said. “Every day, we all want to hold each other to a higher standard and bring more to the table.

“It’s year three for me. I’m sure the coaches [and] my teammates, they all want to see more from me as much as I want to see more from myself. That’s just how it is around here. We all bring each other up. And we also want to be as good as our offense is as well.”

Bucs DT Calijah Kancey – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

It’s no stretch to say that if Tampa Bay’s offense can play at a similar level this year under new offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard and the defense can “raise the bar” the way Kancey says they’re aiming to, the ceiling for this Bucs team will be much higher.

With more complementary football and better health — including a healthy Calijah Kancey for a full 17 games — the team might just avoid that midseason slump that plagued them in 2023 and 2024 where the team lost four games in each season. Maybe Tampa Bay wraps up a fifth straight NFC South title earlier than the last Sunday of the regular season.

And maybe the Bucs get past the NFC Divisional Round for the first time since the 2020 playoffs and make a run at Lombardi Trophy No. 3.