Will Vita Vea Play For Bucs In Week 1?

The Bucs and nose tackle Vita Vea are in an old fashioned stand off over his contract. Unhappy that he doesn’t have a contract extension and more money on his deal as he enters a contract year, Vea has requested a trade from Tampa Bay. He’s been out of practice with a “tweak” in his back, and it doesn’t look like Vea is coming back any time soon.

Despite interest, Tampa Bay hasn’t entertained any trade offers for Vea at the moment, and team sources tell Pewter Report that the team is against trading him. He’s very important to what the defense does, and the Buccaneers hold most of the leverage in this scenario. If Vea doesn’t play he doesn’t get game checks, plus he must play at least six games for his NFL year to count, thus making him a free agent after the 2026 season. Should Vea sit out the whole year, the Bucs would still retain his rights.

Latest Update On Bucs NT Vita Vea’s Status

So there lies the problem for each side. Vita Vea has to play at some point, but when will it be? ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler recently gave context about every single NFL team in an article. When it came to the Buccaneers and Vea, both side seems serious about their current stances. Here’s what Fowler said.

“Bucs coaches are not worried about defensive tackle Vita Vea’s absence … yet. It’s early in camp and Vea, who is upset about his contract, can rest. But as one person with the team told me, “talk to me in one to two weeks.” Translation: It would be nice to get him back by mid-August because he’s central to the defense’s success.

“I’m told Vea is very dug in here and is prepared to wait this out. For how long? That typically depends on a variety of factors, including a player’s resolve with the threat of losing game checks approaching. That’s hard to measure at this stage. But he currently has “zero” intention to play under his deal or without a trade, I’m told. The Bucs have no plans to trade him despite league interest. Something has to give.”

Appearing on the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter suggested that talks have disintegrated and that he wouldn’t be surprised if Tampa Bay traded him prior to the start of the season. However, Pewter Report’s sources maintain that Vea will not be traded.

Todd Bowles Reveals Potential Start Date For Vea

Vita Vea has been seen at practice watching his teammates participate. While he’s looked to be in a good mood, that doesn’t mean he’s just going alter his plans that much.

But is he coming back for Week 1 when the Buccaneers are on the road against the Bengals? When meeting with CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco at training camp, Bucs head coach Todd Bowles revealed some interesting information. First, he was asked about dealing with all the chaos of not just Vea’s contract dispute, but Baker Mayfield’s too.

Bucs DT Vita Vea and head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“You deal with it all one-by-one,” Bowles said. “They’re different case scenarios. Obviously contracts come up every year but when it’s your star quarterback obviously it’s going to be more talked about. We talked about it as a team, I talked about it with him. We’re not going to make this training camp about him not getting a contract. He knows the guys that he has on this team.

Then Bowles made a comment that gave an exact start date for the former Super Bowl champion.

“Obviously Vita wants a new contract, too,” Bowles said. “He’s under contract here for us. We know he’s going to be ready for us Week 1, so it doesn’t bother us internally, it’s for the external people to talk about. We’re a tight-knit team.”

Was Bowles being serious about Vea being back for the first game? There’s only a handful of people that can answer that. Vea has such an impact on what this defense can accomplish, and he helps lift the games of others around him, especially Calijah Kancey and players along the defensive line.

As training camp continues, the saga around Vea will be followed closely.