{"id":871163,"date":"2026-04-21T12:27:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T12:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/871163\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T12:27:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T12:27:28","slug":"bucs-dt-calijah-kancey-has-one-very-important-goal-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/871163\/","title":{"rendered":"Bucs DT Calijah Kancey Has One Very Important Goal In 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bucs defensive tackle<\/a> Calijah Kancey has been a force to reckoned with during his three-year career in Tampa Bay. The problem is, that force hasn\u2019t been available nearly half the time he\u2019s been on the roster.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s pretty simple with Kancey and the Buccaneers. When he\u2019s in the lineup they win. But the amount of games he\u2019s played in hasn\u2019t been enough to feel easy about his long-term future with the organization. As of April 20 Tampa Bay had not picked up Kancey\u2019s fifth-year option for 2027. The team has until May 1 to do so and Pewter Report has learned that Tampa Bay is expected to do so.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what makes this a huge year for Kancey. Two seasons ago, the Pittsburgh product led the Buccaneers with 7.5 sacks in just 12 games. He\u2019s been great for Tampa Bay, but that fact that the most he\u2019s played in a season was 14 as a rookie, it makes it tough for the team to fully commit to him with a long-term contract extension right now.<\/p>\n

Caljiah Kancey Reveals His One Goal For The Season<\/p>\n

That\u2019s also why going into this season, Calijah Kancey legitimately has one goal, and it\u2019ll benefit the Buccaneers \u2013 and him \u2013 in a huge way.<\/p>\n

\"Bucs<\/p>\n

Bucs DT Calijah Kancey \u2013 Photo by: Jeffrey Jones\/PR<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main goal is to play every game,\u201d Kancey said on Monday. \u201cThat\u2019s my main goal. There\u2019s nothing \u2013 there\u2019s no stats, no nothing. Just play every game. Just be ready to play every game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bucs were undefeated with a 3-0 record last season when Kancey played. He tore his pectoral muscle halfway through the second game of the season in Houston and returned for the season finale where the Buccaneers defeated the Panthers, but failed to reach the postseason. He had one tackle that ended up being a tackle for loss. He mentioned that he was feeling really good up until the surprise injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly before the injury, I just knew I was about to hoop (play great),\u201d Kancey said. \u201cThat\u2019s all I can say. I knew I was about to hoop, but hey, everybody\u2019s time is different.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bucs<\/p>\n

Bucs DT Calijah Kancey \u2013 Cliff Welch\/PR<\/p>\n

Calijah Kancey Wants To Be There For His Bucs Teammates<\/p>\n

Struggles were abundant on the Buccaneers defense all season long and all different levels. Not having a top player like Calijah Kancey took a toll on the unit, especially the pass rush as the team notched just 37 sacks \u2013 the lowest in the Todd Bowles era in Tampa Bay since 2019. Now Kancey is looking to right that wrong. It\u2019s not just for his own good, though, he wants to be there for his teammates and prove he\u2019s all about winning.<\/p>\n

Kancey spoke a lot about his love of the game when he met with the media on Monday as the team\u2019s offseason program began. He\u2019s been playing football since he was a kid and all he wants to do is continue playing the game he loves. His passion for football is definitely there and he\u2019s going to lay it on the line for his teammates. Hopefully his body can hold up because the Bucs are a different \u2013 and better \u2013 team when is playing next to Vita Vea and Yaya Diaby.<\/p>\n

\"Bucs<\/p>\n

Bucs DT Calijah Kancey \u2013 Photo by: Cliff Welch\/PR<\/p>\n

\u201cFootball is all I know,\u201d Kancey said. \u201cIt\u2019s all I\u2019ve been taught. I\u2019ve been playing football since I was four years old, so whether its an injury or if I can return or I can\u2019t, I\u2019m going to do whatever I can to try and get back on the field. That was my whole goal, just being able to put on my helmet, go out there and ball with my brothers, whether we got the win or not, I just wanted to show them, man, I\u2019m here for y\u2019all. I eat, sleep [football] \u2013 everything. Football lives through me. That was just me showing my love for them and how much they mean to me. That\u2019s what it was about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pewter Report recapped the press conferences of Kancey, center Graham Barton and safety Tykee Smith on Monday\u2019s Pewter Report Podcast.<\/a> Click the link to watch it and subscribe to our PewterReportTV YouTube channel.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bucs defensive tackle Calijah Kancey has been a force to reckoned with during his three-year career in Tampa…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2077],"tags":[211,7,6,704,250,2597,2596],"class_list":{"0":"post-871163","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-buccaneers","8":"tag-buccaneers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-tampa-bay","12":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","13":"tag-tampabay","14":"tag-tampabaybuccaneers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}