Nearly each edge rusher has an offensive sort out profile he prefers to face off towards and a profile he struggles towards. For Bucs exterior linebacker Yaya Diaby, he has discovered the latter in new divisional opponent Kelvin Banks Jr., the left sort out for the New Orleans Saints.
The 2 confronted off towards one another lots throughout two conferences final yr. Subsequent Gen Stats credited Diaby with 9 pressures and 0 sacks in these two video games, however solely two of these pressures got here when he had a real one-on-one with Banks. The opposite seven got here through scheme or by looking matchups for Diaby elsewhere on the road.
Barring damage, the 2 will sq. off towards one another two extra instances in 2026. The 2025 tape reveals how Banks held the benefit for many of their matchups final yr, how Diaby bought one of the best of Banks on these two pressures, and the way he ought to method 2026 to yield higher outcomes.
Yaya Diaby’s Strengths
Yaya Diaby is a speed-to-power, bull rush specialist who simply began to grasp counters final yr. If the opposing offensive sort out struggles to anchor or re-anchor, Diaby is a nightmare matchup. NGS measured Diaby’s common get-off at 0.83 seconds in 2025. Amongst certified edge defenders (minimal 150 cross rushes), solely 14 gamers had a faster common. However not like Jonathan Cooper, Haason Reddick and Nik Bonitto – guys forward of him on that record who wish to win with pace and bend across the arc – Diaby wished to undergo a sort out’s face reasonably than round him.
Diaby’s most profitable stress plan because the begin of 2024 is to win with pace off the road, convert that get-off into energy on the level of contact, and create sufficient vertical displacement that he finds an inside path to the pocket. That’s why you’ll hear myself and others confer with him as a pocket condenser – for quarterbacks it feels just like the partitions are closing in. The place he has had much less success is as an outdoor rusher – a Bonitto-type who can win on the surface of the arc with pure pace that tackles can’t sustain with.
Kelvin Banks’ Strengths
Kelvin Banks Jr. is the proper archetype foil for Yaya Diaby. Large and dense, he likes to drop anchor and have interaction in a battle of decrease half energy. That’s a battle he’s going to win 9 instances out of 10. And that’s precisely what occurred when Diaby tried to assault him with the bull rush. Banks would drop anchor and kill Diaby’s momentum. He feels snug in a battle of wills the place he can deploy quite a lot of counter assaults to stonewall a defender.
Saints LT Kelvin Banks Jr. – Picture by: Stephen Lew – IMAGN Pictures
The place he struggles most is towards speed-bend rushers like Will McDonald IV, who gave him some hassle in Week 16 final yr.
The Matchup
What occurs when an unstoppable drive meets an immovable object? Within the case of Yaya Diaby vs. Kelvin Banks Jr. in 2025, the immovable object received the day most frequently. Banks’ preliminary anchor was sufficient to decelerate Diaby on just about each one-on-one. When Diaby tried to construct leverage for his energy assault with a long-arm, Banks was able to counter with a long-arm of his personal, profitable with approach by leveraging his lower-body extension to compensate for his marginally shorter arms (33.5 inches to Diaby’s 33.875 inches).
When Diaby would get an preliminary jolt of displacement, Banks was able to re-anchor on second effort and stall the Bucs’ cross rusher mid-rep. And when Diaby actually leaned into his bull rush Banks had a solution for that as effectively.
How Bucs Head Coach And Defensive Play-Caller Todd Bowles Affected the Matchup
By the second half of the Week 8 matchup, Todd Bowles was utilizing Yaya Diaby as a setup man to allow different cross rushers to win. Diaby turned the crasher on stunts and twists as typically as he was given alternatives to face off solo towards Banks. A few of these reps have been close to New Orleans’ aim line to create a false opening within the pocket to confuse Spencer Rattler. That false opening was typically shut decisively by a looping Vita Vea. Others have been to get a defensive again as a free runner.
In Week 14 Bowles leaned into the stress video games extra, this time utilizing Diaby because the tornado the place his speed-to-power profile beat the Saints’ guards by knocking them again into Tyler Shough’s lap. Bowles additionally went matchup looking with Diaby, placing him on the offense’s proper aspect towards proper sort out Asim Richards, who was filling in for an injured Taliese Fuaga.
On different reps Bowles put Diaby inside as a 3-technique to leverage his pace off the snap. All of it helped Diaby rack up a 16.1% stress charge throughout the 2 video games in keeping with NGS. However the wins towards Banks on the surface have been, once more, few and much between.
How Yaya Diaby Acquired The Higher of Kelvin Banks Jr.
Regardless of the majority of the rounds going to Kelvin Banks Jr., Yaya Diaby had a few clear wins. And it’s these wins that present the blueprint for a way he can flip the matchup in 2026.
Keep in mind that Week 16 rep of Will McDonald IV beating Banks from earlier? I can’t assist however suppose he bought the thought for that mid-rep stutter right into a re-acceleration to the surface from this Week 8 rep from Diaby.
Sometimes, Yaya Diaby loves speed-to-power assault as a weapon to knock again opposing tackles. In opposition to Kelvin Banks he needed to discover completely different solutions as a result of Banks can anchor and deal with Yaya’s energy.
Right here Diaby makes use of an efficient late-rep re-acceleration to win. pic.twitter.com/e72QKLC8DT
That is precisely the place Banks struggles to stay. If he understands you wish to win nearly completely exterior then he hedges with fast vertical units. But when an edge rusher provides him a authentic purpose to protect towards an inside assault, they sluggish his footwork to the surface and might beat him across the nook on a second-reaction counter again to the surface. That is the place Diaby has all the instruments to make the pair’s subsequent matchup a wrestle for his opponent, by constantly threatening each of Banks’ shoulders.
The second alternative is for Diaby to only belief his skill to win exterior and across the arc. Watching his ascension over the previous three years has been enjoyable as a result of there was actual growth year-over-year.
In his rookie season he was like a bowling ball thrown down a lane by a toddler. No deliberate path and lots of chaos. In 2024, he discovered his long-arm and inside step constantly. That helped him rank eleventh the NFL in complete pressures in keeping with Professional Soccer Focus’ pressure-tracking methodology.
Final yr, Diaby began to search out some bend in his repertoire. And if he can belief that bend, pair it along with his plus get-off and add it as part of a game-long cross rush plan…effectively now you have got a real alpha rusher. And a man that Banks will actually wrestle to include.
Kelvin Banks was one of many hardest matchups Yaya Diaby confronted all yr. Which is what makes this rep stand out: Diaby received the nook with pace earlier than Banks might get set vertically, denying the rookie sort out the lockout on his chest that outlined most of their reps. pic.twitter.com/NT32BcmlSD
Kelvin Banks Jr. was an ideal foil to the 2024/2025 model of Yaya Diaby. However there are underdeveloped elements of Diaby’s sport that may elevate him right into a participant even Banks can’t deal with. None of that is computerized. Banks enters his second yr, the identical approach Diaby did in 2024, and the rookie sort out’s developmental curve is simply as actual because the one Diaby is climbing.
This will likely be a enjoyable battle to look at in 2026 – and in years to come back.
