Calijah Kancey Has Unfinished Business With Jared Goff

“I will say he’s a great quarterback as well, just going against him. He’s smart. He has a good feel for pressure. There were times when he got the ball out and I was mad because I should have gotten him.”

As well as Kancey played against Goff and the Lions last year, it wasn’t good enough. And that is what is driving him this offseason and fueling his workouts.

As fate would have it, the Bucs play the Lions again this year in Detroit. That gives Kancey and the Tampa Bay defense another shot at Goff – a puzzle Todd Bowles’ unit has yet to solve.

“Oh, I’m looking forward to it,” Kancey said.

Calijah Kancey Is Focused On Fixing His Mistakes

In order to prepare for Jared Goff and the other quarterbacks he’ll will face this season, Calijah Kancey has been studying what went wrong within his game during his rookie campaign and working on fixing it.

“My biggest goal this offseason, honestly, is just to go back and look at everything where I could’ve been better – something like a play where I could’ve made the play and didn’t make it,” Kancey said. “[I am] just really oiling up everything, as far as my moves, my get off, my play recognition – everything – running to the ball. I’m just kind of working off of what I’ve already [done] and being better at it.”

Last year’s first-round pick is focused on doing more to help the team this year by becoming more of an impactful player.

“There is definitely a lot of room for improvement and it will be a challenge for me – just going into the offseason and just having that time off,” Kancey said. “I’ve never had that much time off in my life. There’s no spring ball. There’s no winter conditioning. That’s a big plus for me and I’ll be able to work on a lot of specific things, such as getting bigger, stronger and faster.

“And just being able to overall polish my game. I’ll be able to look back at the losses we took as a team and seeing how I could have done more to help and impact the game even more. I always want more. I always want to look for more ways to help the team.”

At 6-foot-1, 285 pounds, Kancey’s frame is already maxed out. He’s not really capable of getting that much bigger without sacrificing his elite quickness, speed and agility. But he can get stronger to hold up at the point of attack in the run game and shed blockers.

“I played during the season at 285, so when I say bigger I’m not necessarily talking about adding weight – just getting stronger,” Kancey said. “Just having a better step and being more efficient on my moves and things like that.”

Kancey’s calf injury took over two months to recover from, and naturally caused a setback in his development last year. Bucs linebacker SirVocea Dennis, who played with Kancey at Pitt for three years, believes he overcame his injury and laid the foundation for an even more successful season in 2024.

“Calijah handled it pretty well, but that was one of his down moments though,” Dennis said. “In college he was never hurt. He’s never had a soft tissue injury. That was tough for him. But he’s a fighter and he fought his way out of it to be back – and better. He got his feet wet, now it’s time for him to excel.”

“I Wanted The NFL To Be As Easy As College”

With football taken away from him for the first time, Calijah Kancey learned from that experience and is determined to dominate in his second NFL season.

“I definitely learned a lot about myself,” Kancey said. “It was a little uncertain starting off, as far as being set back with the calf injury and starting the season off a little late. My main thing was getting back to myself and how I was in college. I wanted the NFL to be as easy as college.

“It came with patience. I had to learn a different scheme, going against veteran guys who’ve been in the league for a lot of years. I just had to get the repetition and when I got the repetitions, it just all started to pick up. That’s where I want to be at – I want to work off of where I finished off at and be better.”

There were times when Kancey made it look easy last year – slipping blocks, penetrating the backfield and recording 12 tackles for loss, including two in the postseason, in addition to four sacks in the regular season and another 1.5 sacks in Tampa Bay’s two playoff games. Kancey wants to get to a point where nearly every down in the NFL is as easy as it was for him at Pittsburgh, where he recorded 34.5 tackles for loss and 16 sacks in his three seasons with the Panthers.

“Just being able to get a full year of experience in the NFL and seeing where I was in college and where I’m at now,” Kancey said. “I had to go through it myself. Leaving from college, I always knew I was that guy. Now, I’m in the NFL and there’s a lot of those guys. It’s just really finding a way every day to be better.”

Playing next to a Pro Bowl-caliber defensive tackle like Vita Vea, a team captain, has accelerated Kancey’s learning curve.

“I learned a lot from Vita, just being in the room with him and being on the field with him,” Kancey said. “My first day, I actually took a rep with him and he told me everything to do before we even got out of the huddle. I’m like, ‘Damn, it’s that easy?’

“That just let you know what type of guy he is. He’s on top of everything – he knows the formation, he knows what to expect, he knows the person you’re going against because he’s been in the league and he’s [gone] against everybody. It was really a plus for me. Going into this year, it’s [about] really following his steps and being a sponge towards him because he does everything the right way.”

Brian Baldinger Is A Big Calijah Kancey Fan

Not only has Vita Vea been a big help to Calijah Kancey’s early development in Tampa Bay, but Fox NFL analyst Brian Baldinger has also been in Kancey’s corner. The two met in Kancey’s hometown last offseason at the beach of all places.

“Baldy is my guy and I was actually going to go down and do my beach workout and I just so happened to run into him when he was coming back from a swim,” Kancey said. “I just finished my beach workout and I was going to get in the water for a swim and he was just getting out of the water and it was just a regular beach day during the week at Fort Lauderdale and I just happened to run into him.

“I said, ‘Baldy?’ and he said, ‘Kancey?’ It was cool and he kind of followed me throughout the draft process and we’ve had the chance to catch up a few times during the season. Great guy, always giving me tips. It’s always great to run into Baldy and get the chance to talk football.”

Baldinger, who played guard and center for 12 years in the NFL, is famous for his “Baldy’s Breakdowns” – short analytical video clips of NFL players and games on his X channel. He’s highlighted Kancey’s successful rookie season several times, including his dominant playoff performances against the Eagles and the Lions.