Vita Vea Is Skipping Buccaneers Minicamp Over His Contract. The Bucs Owe Him a New Deal.
Vita Vea is not at Buccaneers minicamp. The Pro Bowl defensive tackle has skipped mandatory practices and is now in an open contract standoff with Tampa Bay, sources confirmed this week.
Vea is entering the final year of his four-year, $71 million extension. He has been a top-five interior defender in football for the last three seasons. He wants to be paid like one.
His current $18 million average annual value used to be elite money for an interior defensive lineman. It is not anymore. Chris Jones of the Chiefs leads the position at $31.75 million per year. Several other defensive tackles have surpassed Vea’s deal in the last 18 months.
Vea has stayed quiet publicly. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo confirmed the absence is contract-related. He has not been at OTAs either. The Buccaneers know exactly what the issue is.
Pay him.
Vea is 31, which is the only argument against handing him a top-of-market deal. Defensive tackles do not always age gracefully. The big-bodied interior players who rely on power tend to fall off in their early 30s.
The counter is that Vea has not played like a 31-year-old. He had 49 tackles, eight tackles for loss, and 4.5 sacks last season. He commands double teams on every snap. He is the anchor of the Tampa run defense. The film is as good as it has ever been.
The Bucs cap situation is workable too. They have flexibility built in by their front office, and the Mayfield extension has set the salary structure for the rest of the roster. A three-year, $90 million deal for Vea would not break anything.
The risk of dragging this out is bigger than the cost of solving it. Vea is a leader in the locker room. He is one of the most respected veterans on the team. Letting his contract situation linger sends a message to other young players about how the franchise treats its stars.
Coach Todd Bowles has publicly said he expects Vea to be at training camp. That suggests both sides expect a resolution before late July. The Bucs have a runway. They should use it to actually get the deal done.
The bigger picture matters too. Tampa is a real contender in the NFC. The defensive line is the strength of the team. Losing Vea or having him play distracted because of a contract dispute is the worst possible outcome heading into a season where Baker Mayfield is finally surrounded by enough talent to make a deep run.
The simple math says Vea is worth every dollar he is asking for. The Bucs have been a smart, disciplined front office for years. They should not get cute on this one.
Sign him up. Move on. Win games.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
