Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker YaYa Diaby suffered a scary injury at practice on Thursday.
Diaby hurt his left ankle at the end of practice during the two-minute drill and had to be carted off the field. Several teammates knelt to the ground following the injury, and Diaby stayed down for a couple minutes before getting into the cart.
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“Right now, we’re hopeful that we avoided something very serious,” general manager Jason Licht said to reporters after the injury. “So we have more tests this afternoon, but right now there’s some hope that we did.”
Fortunately, Diaby then told Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz that he suffered a high ankle sprain and hopes to be ready by Week 1. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said the recovery time for the injury is typically four to six weeks.
“I’ll be fine,” Diaby said to Schultz. “I’m a warrior.”
Diaby also posted on his personal X (formerly Twitter) account.
“Thank you to everyone for your support and prayers! I’ll be back stronger than ever.”
This injury diagnosis was a huge sigh of relief for the Bucs, as it appeared to be much worse in the moment. Fortunately, it wasn’t season-ending — and moreover, Diaby could be back by Tampa Bay’s Week 1 matchup on Sept. 8 against the Washington Commanders.
Diaby, 25, was selected in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft. He appeared in all 17 games his rookie season — starting seven of them — securing 38 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, and an impressive 7.5 sacks. He also forced one fumble and recovered another two.
Diaby’s impressive rookie season earned him Defensive Player of the Year award votes. He tied for fifth in the awards voting with Detroit Lions safety Brian Branch and Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr., and even earned a first-place vote. Houston Texans defense end Will Anderson Jr. won the award with 16 first-place votes.
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Diaby opened camp as the top outside linebacker on Tampa Bay’s roster. In 2023, he led the team in sacks and finished second in tackles for loss, as star linebacker Lavonte David had 17 to Diaby’s 12.
While Diaby will likely miss the entire preseason, he’ll have a little more than five weeks to get back in time for Week 1. He’ll hope to continue his streak of not missing any games in his second season in the NFL.
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