Calijah Kancey has seemingly gotten better and better throughout his rookie season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Kancey has been impactful through the first game and a half of his NFL career. After racking up four tackles (three solo), a tackle for loss, 0.5 sacks and a quarterback in his playoff debut against the Philadelphia Eagles, he kicked off the first half against the Detroit Lions in a similar fashion.
With the Bucs in a 10-3 hole at the end of the first half, Kancey ripped past Lions offensive guard Graham Glasgow on 3rd-and-1 right at midfield and hauled down Lions quarterback Jared Goff for a game-changing sack.
The sack led to a punt, and a 7-play, 92-yard Bucs’ touchdown drive to tie the game at 10 before the half.
Kancey recorded a tackle (solo), a tackle for loss, a sack, a quarterback hit and a pass breakup in the first half — and he will be relied upon in the second half if the Bucs are to reach the NFC Championship game.
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 is one of the few former Pitt stars playing in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.
What a steal he’s been.