Why Yaya Diaby is 'super geeked' Buccaneers have Haason Reddick

As Dan Pompei of The Athletic noted, eyebrows were raised when pass-rusher Haason Reddick skipped some offseason workouts after he signed a one-year contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, coming off a rather forgettable 10 games he played as a member of the New York Jets last season. 

Like Reddick, Tampa Bay's Yaya Diaby will be expected to get to opposing quarterbacks early and often this coming fall. During a recent appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Diaby suggested that Buccaneers fans shouldn't be worried about Reddick's dedication to the cause. 

"Man, I’m super geeked to have a guy like Haason, you know, it’s just so amazing to see how hungry he is," Diaby said, as shared by the JoeBucsFan website. "Everybody kind of turned away from him because of all the things that he’s been through with the Jets, but he’s still got that hunger even though he’s up in age. He still has that hunger. Having a guy like that on the other side and then having [Calijah Kancey] and [defensive tackle Vita Vea] in the middle, man, I’m super geeked for what this team got in store." 

Reddick will turn 31 years old in September. 

Then-Jets general manager Joe Douglas reportedly believed when the club acquired Reddick from the Philadelphia Eagles in the spring of 2024 that Reddick would play under the terms of his existing contract. Reddick instead held out through the middle of October until the two sides agreed to a restructured one-year deal. 

However, the Jets defense never fully recovered from the in-season firing of head coach Robert Saleh and subsequent promotion of defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich to the role of interim head coach. In the end, Reddick accumulated a single sack during his short-lived Jets tenure. 

Before that, however, Reddick made back-to-back Pro Bowl squads with the Eagles. According to Gabriel Kahaian, Brianna Dix and Scott Smith of the Buccaneers' website, Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles "stressed the need for additional pressure from four-man rushes without dialed-up blitzes" even though ESPN stats show that the club finished the 2024 regular season with the sixth-most sacks recorded (46, tied with the Los Angeles Chargers).

A Buccaneers team expected to have a high-powered offense could make a run to at least the NFC Championship Game if Reddick helps the defense become a top-tier unit. For what it's worth, Pompei said that Reddick "appears to be in his athletic prime" and was "sharing his wisdom with younger Bucs pass-rushers" ahead of the team's summer break.