2025 IDP Dynasty Riser: YaYa Diaby
The Buccaneers have been hurting for a great EDGE threat for the past half-decade. They have invested a lot of high-end capital into the position recently, but their biggest hit has been a non-top-75 pick from Louisville. Yaya Diaby was a raw prospect with a lot of upside and has gone under the radar despite some fun metrics and counting stats. Let’s dive in and see why he could break out in 2025.
Welcome to the next installment of the 2025 IDP Dynasty Risers/Fallers series! This installment surrounds an underrated rusher, the Buccaneers’ EDGE Yaya Diaby. You can view the rest of the series here, where our team dives into a plethora of fascinating profiles! For my risers and fallers, I will provide background on what the player has done, outline underlying metrics and analytics (with some comparisons where applicable), discuss the competition and situation in their position group, and wrap up with what they could be in 2025 and beyond.
A note on metrics and statistics: fantasy finishes (I will use PPG for historical finishes) and current rankings are pulled from the FantasyPros and fantasydata databases. At the same time, advanced stats such as Pass-rush-win-rate (PRWR) and pass-rush-productivity (PRP) are taken from PFF’s database.
Background:
Through 2 seasons, Diaby has quietly strong numbers with 100 total pressures and 13 sacks. A total of 93 tackles is not elite, but it provides a solid floor to pair with a strong rush ability. He finished 2024 as the OLB12 (around 24th amongst EDGE players). Diaby saw just over 70% of snaps in 2024, a massive increase from 45% in 2023. The snap increase contributed to an overall production increase, with tackles rising from 49 to 64. The sack total did drop from 8 to 5, which is notable. That fall is not a considerable concern for me, as we will discuss now…
Analytics:
Why is the falling sack total not a concern? Because Diaby has great pass-rush metrics. In 2024, Diaby ranked 11th in PRWR and 21st in PRP, two incredibly strong rankings. So why are we not concerned about sacks falling? As a rookie, Diaby was not in the top 75 for either metric. If he is a significantly better rusher than the one with eight sacks, we could easily see 8-10 a year during his prime. If Diaby can continue to be a top-24 rusher, he could become a tier-2 rusher. This is especially true when you consider his run defense, where he is even more effective. Diaby had the 3rd highest run stop % in the league, and twice as many snaps as the first two combined. He also posted a top-10 number in depth of tackle. What more can you ask for than top-20 play in both facets?
Competition:
Why, yes. You can ask for more! You can ask for less competition in the room. That is now the biggest question for Diaby. Former top-35 pick Joe Tryon-Shoyinka is no longer in the room, but former All-Pro Haason Reddick has stepped in. 2024 2nd rounder Chris Braswell is also around, but the belief is that he will be the 3rd rusher/run-stopping EDGE. Reddick will be the top rusher on the roster; however, this could be a plus for Diaby’s outlook. There has not been a dominant EDGE for Tampa since the pre-TB12 days. Having a good-to-great companion can only take the pressure off and lift you up. Ask any historical duo! R2-D2 and C-3PO, Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, peanut butter and jelly, you catch my drift. Diaby needs to see more snaps to unlock a higher floor and truly vault himself into the upper tiers.
Dynasty Outlook:
Diaby is currently ranked as DL53 (EDGE40), which I find frankly absurd. If 2024 is not a fluke, then we are looking at one of the best 24 run and pass defenders in the league. Fantasy football does not always align with the on-field product, but that is a far too broad gap to bridge. Diaby is not quite in Tier 3 for me with the most recent entry in this series, Chop Robinson, but is a locked Tier 4 player. The Falcons’ rookies, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Dallas Turner (tier-5 players) have more pure talent than Diaby, but none have shown the on-field ability of the Louisville product. His metrics are similar to those of Will Anderson and Josh Hines-Allen, but even if he does not reach their level, his ability should see him skyrocket into EDGE2 territory in 2025.