The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a bigger problem than the Baker Mayfield contract standoff. Star defensive tackle Vita Vea has officially requested a trade, and the situation is getting messy.
Vea’s agent, Collin Roberts, informed the team of the trade request earlier this week, per ESPN. The request came after failed contract extension talks. Vea, who is entering the final year of a four-year, $71 million deal, wanted a raise that would move him closer to the top of the market at his position. The Bucs would not go there.
The 31-year-old is set to make $17 million this season, none of it guaranteed. That is well below the top defensive tackle contracts in the league. Jeffery Simmons is at $35.1 million per year. Chris Jones is around $31 million. Even second-tier interior linemen are getting paid in the $20 million range. Vea has a real market argument.
The Bucs have not commented publicly on the trade request, but sources say Tampa Bay has no interest in trading him. That is a problem for a franchise that has to figure out how to keep its best defensive player happy without setting a precedent that gets other veterans in line for extensions.
Vea has spent his entire career in Tampa Bay. The team drafted him 12th overall in 2018. He has developed into one of the most disruptive interior defensive linemen in football, making two Pro Bowls and anchoring the defense that won a Super Bowl in the 2020 season. He is beloved in the locker room.
That is what makes this situation hurt. Vea is not a difficult personality. He is a professional. He does not create drama for the sake of drama. When a player like that requests a trade, it usually means the front office pushed him further than he was willing to go.
The reported preferred destinations for Vea are California-based teams or the Las Vegas Raiders. That makes sense given his ties to the West Coast. Vea grew up in California and played college football at Washington. Getting closer to family after seven seasons in Florida would be understandable.
The San Francisco 49ers make the most sense as a landing spot. They have serious needs at defensive tackle after some offseason attrition. They have the cap space to work in a new contract. They have a legitimate championship window with Brock Purdy under center. Adding Vea to their defensive front would make them the favorite in the NFC.
The Los Angeles Rams also fit. Sean McVay’s team just added Myles Garrett, and pairing him with Vea inside would create one of the scariest defensive fronts in the league. The Rams are always aggressive when the price is right.
The Raiders are more of a wild card. Las Vegas has been overhauling its roster and has cap space to work with. Vea would give them a legitimate anchor on defense. The problem is that the Raiders are not close to competing for a title, and a 31-year-old star probably wants to play for a contender.
The trade compensation is another obstacle. Vea has real value, and Tampa Bay is going to demand a high draft pick to move him. A first-rounder is probably the starting point. Interested teams have to weigh that against the fact that Vea is also going to want a huge new contract from whoever acquires him.
The Bucs are going to have to decide fast. Training camp is winding down. If Vea is not playing for Tampa Bay, staying in Florida just creates problems for the locker room. The longer the standoff goes, the worse it gets for everyone.
Expect movement here in the next two weeks. Either the Bucs cave and give Vea an extension, or he ends up somewhere new by the start of the regular season. There is no middle ground on this one.
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.
