Calijah Kancey missed the first few weeks of the regular season due to injury, but he certainly has not missed a moment of his first NFL playoff action.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Philadelphia Eagles faced off in the Wild Card round of the 2023 NFL Playoffs, and Kancey made an impact early — continuing right where he left off from a very successful rookie season.
Kancey lined up opposite Eagles guard Cam Jurgens in the first quarter, used his hands to fly by and hauled down Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts in the backfield for his first career postseason sack — helping the Buccaneers to a 32-9 victory.
Kancey finished with four tackles (three solo), one tackle for loss, 0.5 sacks and a quarterback hit, helping the Bucs to a massive playoff win.
Kancey racked up 26 tackles (19 solo), 10 tackles for loss, four sacks and a pass breakup in 14 games this season, all starts. He missed most of the first month of the season and emerged upon entering the lineup as one of the more impactful young defensive tackles in the NFL.
It was a very successful rookie season, and after a strong playoff debut, he will be relied upon to help continue a run by the Buccaneers.
The Buccaneers drafted Kancey with the 19th pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, and he’s already rewarding that selection with promising play.
Kancey put together one of the best Pitt careers in recent memory, earning his spot in the NFL after a standout career in Pittsburgh — arriving as a little-recruited three-star out of the Miami area.
Kancey was the 2022 ACC Defensive Player of the Year and a two-time All-American (just the 13th player in program history to earn unanimous honors in 2022) during his time at Pitt.
He racked up 31 tackles (17 solo), 14.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks in 2022, in just 11 games, as he cemented himself as the leading interior pass rusher in college football — the No. 1 trait that attracted NFL teams in his draft cycle. His speed and quickness at 281 pounds are almost unheard of.
In his Pitt career, through just three seasons, Kancey recorded 91 tackles (52 solo), 34.5 tackles for loss, 16 sacks, three pass breakups and a forced fumble. It was a career that started fast and only got faster on the way to immediate success at the NFL level.
Kancey will be one of the few former Pitt stars playing in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.
