There were many factors in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers late-season collapse last year.

One was that there were times when the defense didn't appear to be giving maximum effort on the field. Star linebacker Lavonte David, who retired this offseason after a Hall of Fame-worthy career in Tampa, admitted as much. David acknowledged that his teammates had called him out for "loafing" last season.

"I got called out by a couple of my teammates for loafing," David said. "I loafed. I'll take full accountability for that. For them to call me out on that, me being the veteran of the team, that kind of stuck with me."

If one of the leaders of your defense is noticeably not fully engaged, that is going to trickle down to the other players on the field.

Bucs' linebacker YaYa Diaby agrees that his teammates didn't give their all last season and recently called out the lack of effort. During his appearance on The Drive on 95.7 FM WDAE, Diaby had some harsh words about his defense.

“You know, sometimes when you’re watching our games, like sometimes it looks like we don’t have juice out there and sometimes it looks like guys don’t have no love for the game,” Diaby said. “But, you know, Nacho brings that to the team and brings an excitement that, you know, that we need to go out there and just do what we do. … Great personality, a great leader, man. He brings a lot of juice that we need.”

Diaby has been thrilled with his new teammate, defensive tackle Rakeem “Nacho” Nuñez-Roches. Of course, while Nunez-Roches is a new teammate for Diaby, he is returning to Tampa for his second stint with the Bucs. "Nacho" left Tampa for the New York Giants in 2023, about a month before Diaby was drafted. 

With Nunez-Roches back in the fold, Diaby has noticed a fire from him that the defense sorely lacked in 2025. He made a point a to talk about an earlier practice where "Nacho" and quarterback Baker Mayfield were trash talking each other the whole time.

Diaby hopes that passion rubs off on the rest of Tampa's defenders in 2026.

It's never a good thing when a team's effort level is questioned. It was so obvious with David that teammates had to call him out. Now Diaby has also confirmed that the defense's effort last season wasn't up to par, and hopes that a backup DT can be the one to bring a different mentality this year.

With all the new additions Tampa has made to its defense this offseason, effort should no longer be an issue. Veterans like A'Shawn Robinson, Al-Quadin Muhammad, and Alex Anzalone have never had their motors questioned. Rookies like Rueben Bain Jr., Josiah Trotter, Keionte Scott, and DeMonte Capehart should bring a youthful enthusiasm to the defense.

The Bucs' defense will feature some pretty heavy competition throughout training camp and the preseason. If any player isn't fully committed on the field, he risks not only losing playing time but possibly his spot on the roster.

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