Talks Between Buccaaners & Vita Vea Trending Positively?

“It feels like we’ve gone from a tone of pessimism, to one where there’s potential optimism,” Schefter said. “It feels like we’ve gone from Vita Vea wanting a trade to Vita Vea now wanting to get a deal done.” 

Schefter said he feels like there’s a path for the two sides to work something out in the coming weeks before the season starts. 

Vea has continued his hold-in at Buccaneers training camp as he seeks a new deal in the final year of his contract. His camp has been saying Vea will not play without a new contract or a trade.

Tampa Bay had not engaged at all with Vea’s camp on an extension up until recently and the veteran seems to have taken that personally. Up until now, the Buccaneers had been willing to call Vea’s bluff and let him sit out of practice with plenty of time until Week 1. That window is shrinking, though. 

There’s been significant trade interest in Vea but the Buccaneers have rebuffed all callers to this point.

The veteran defensive tackle averaged $17.75 million per year on his current deal, which makes him the league’s No. 19 overall highest-paid interior lineman.

Vea, 31, is a former first-round pick of the Buccaneers back in 2018. The Buccaneers picked up Vea’s fifth-year option which will cost them $7.638 million fully guaranteed for the 2022 season.

He later signed a four-year, $71 million extension with Tampa Bay. The team cleared approximately $9 million by converting a large portion of Vea’s $12.5 million base salary for 2023 into a bonus.

He’s set to earn a base salary of 17,000,000 in 2026. 

In 2025, Vea appeared in all 17 games for the Buccaneers and recorded 34 tackles, seven tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, two pass defenses, and one fumble recovery. 

We’ll have more on Vea as the news is available.