Inside The Bucs’ Pick Of Calijah Kancey

All three of those players came to Tampa Bay for Top 30 visits and met with the team at the NFL Scouting Combine.

But the Bucs had other ideas and surprised everyone by drafting Pittsburgh defensive tackle Calijah Kancey with the 19th overall pick. Even Kancey was surprised.

“I want to thank the Buccaneers for drafting me,” Kancey said on Thursday night, just moments after being drafted. “Honestly, throughout this process, talking to them, I didn’t have [any] clue that I would be the one that they’d call. I’m very grateful for this opportunity.”

The Bucs were super stealthy when it came to Kancey. They didn’t even have Kancey in for a Top 30 visit. In fact, no NFL team did prior to the draft.

Tampa Bay kept their enthusiasm about Kancey on the down low to ensure that he would be there at No. 19.

Outside of a meeting at the NFL Scouting Combine, the Bucs didn’t have much interaction with him. Instead, Tampa Bay gathered intel on Kancey from former assistant strength coach Michael Stacchiotti, who was with the Bucs in 2019. Stacchiotti is now the Panthers’ head strength coach and worked with Kancey for the past three years.

Outside of position coaches, no coach spends more time with players getting to know them than strength and conditioning coaches. Stacchiotti gave the Bucs rave reviews about Kancey.

“Being called by Tampa Bay – honestly, the draft was not going the way it looked in mock drafts and what people were predicting,” Kancey said. “It was all just like a surprise and it worked out great. I’m happy to be a Buccaneer.”

Is Calijah Kancey The Next Aaron Donald – Or The Next Ed Oliver?

The comparisons are inevitable. Fast, undersized, twitchy, pass-rushing defensive tackle from Pitt, who lives in the backfield? Those terms could describe either future Hall of Famer Aaron Donald, a Super Bowl champion with the Rams, or Calijah Kancey, the newest addition to the Buccaneers.

Donald is just under 6-foot-1 and weighed 285 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine where he ran a 4.68 and became the 13th overall pick by the Rams in 2014. Kancey is 6-foot-1, 281 pounds and blazed a 4.67 in the 40-yard dash and was selected 19th overall by the Bucs.

“I think it’s always unfair to compare a player to a several time All-Pro and first ballot Hall of Famer, but you can see some of the similarities in the way he plays,” Bucs general manager Jason Licht said about the similarities between Kancey and Donald. “[They are] undersized but super explosive, super competitive, [and have] off the charts athleticism.”

Donald had a more productive career in college than Kancey did, notching 66 tackles for loss, 29.5 sacks and forcing six fumbles in four years. He had two 11-sacks seasons in 2011 as a sophomore and in 2013 as a senior.

Kancey only played three years at Pitt, but notched 34.5 tackles for loss, 16 sacks and one forced fumble. He had back-to-back seasons with 7.0 and 7.5 sacks. But if you look at Donald’s first three years with the Panthers, Kancey’s stats compare more favorably with the Pitt legend. Donald had 37.5 tackles for loss through his junior season and 18.5 sacks along with two forced fumbles.

NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein compares Kancey to Minnesota Vikings Hall of Famer John Randle. While working out at the Combine, Kancey got to meet Randle, who was a terror at 6-foot-1, 290 pounds in his playing days.

Licht even drew a comparison to Bucs legend and Hall of Famer Warren Sapp.

“People said that Warren Sapp was undersized, too,” Licht said. “I’m sure Warren is very happy about this pick because I am pretty sure he’d like this guy – they have a very similar playstyle.”

Sapp’s measurables at the NFL Scouting Combine back in 1995? Tampa Bay’s former first-round pick was 6-foot-1, 281 pounds and ran a 4.69 in the 40-yard dash. Kancey has the same measurables and ran the 40 a tick faster.

But there is a chance that Kancey doesn’t reach the Hall of Fame status that Sapp and Randle have achieved and that Donald is on his way to achieving. Like Kancey, Buffalo defensive tackle Ed Oliver was said to be a dominant, undersized pass rusher coming out of Houston in 2019. The Bills drafted Oliver with the ninth overall pick.

In three years at Houston, Oliver recorded 53 tackles for loss, 13.5 sacks, five pass breakups and a fumble recovery. At 6-foot-1, 287 pounds, Oliver ran a 4.73 at the Combine – similar measurables and speed to Kancey.

But Oliver has underwhelmed in Buffalo, notching just 14.5 sacks, 30 tackles for loss and four forced fumbles in 62 games with 53 starts. His highest sack output came as a rookie with five in 2019. Oliver had just 2.5 sacks last season with 9.5 tackles for loss.

So will Kancey be closer to the elite defensive tackles like Donald, Sapp and Randle in his NFL career? Or will he be more pedestrian like Oliver when it’s all said and done?

Only time will tell and Kancey’s clock in Tampa Bay starts now.

What Number Will Calijah Kancey Wear In Tampa Bay?

Calijah Kancey wore the number 8 at Pitt, and his Twitter handle is @Ckancey8. A quick look at the Bucs roster shows that the No. 8 is currently available and not assigned to any player.

Single-digit numbers look great on defensive linemen, but the NFL has rules about what positions can wear certain numbers. While the league allowed players to wear the No. 0 for the first time, that’s only for non-linemen. And neither offensive or defensive linemen can wear single-digit numbers.

Bucs outside linebacker Joe Tryon-Shoyinka wears No. 9 and is permitted to do that because he is an outside linebacker. The NFL still mandates that defensive linemen can only wear No. 50-79 and No. 90-99.

So unless the Bucs somehow classify Kancey as an outside linebacker, he’ll have to give up on the idea of wearing No. 8 in the pros. Currently, Nos. 53, 56, 59, 61, 62, 68, 69, 71, 72, 76, 92, 94 and 96 are available.

The Bucs have retired Nos. 55, 63 and 99 for Hall of Famers Derrick Brooks, Lee Roy Selmon and Warren Sapp, respectively.

“I haven’t even thought about the number yet,” Kancey said. “Honestly, I don’t know what number I want. It won’t matter at the end of the day – a number won’t make me. I’ll just go out there and play – you can give me whatever number you want and I’ll just go out there and make plays in it.”