Vita Vea Wants Out: Bucs' Anchor Requests Trade as Camp Opens
Tampa Bay's two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle has asked for a trade after extension talks collapsed, putting the middle of the Bucs' defense in play just as training camp begins.
The Buccaneers' defense just lost its center of gravity — at least at the negotiating table. Vita Vea, Tampa Bay's two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle, requested a trade on Monday after contract extension talks broke down, according to NFL Network's Mike Garafolo and Ian Rapoport.
Why it came to this
Vea, 31, is entering the final season of the four-year extension he signed in 2022 and is due $18 million in 2026. He wanted a new deal; the Bucs didn't meet his number before camp. The friction wasn't new — Vea had already held out of mandatory minicamp this offseason, a stretch during which head coach Todd Bowles downplayed the standoff as "part of the business."
The 2018 first-round pick (12th overall out of Washington) has spent all eight of his NFL seasons in Tampa, winning a Super Bowl and anchoring one of the league's most consistent run defenses. He posted 4.5 sacks in 2025 while playing a full 17-game season, per CBS Sports.
What happens next
The Buccaneers have made no official statement, and per NFL Network, Vea is still expected at training camp — though how much he participates is an open question. That leaves Tampa Bay with three options: pay him, trade him, or let a disgruntled anchor play out a contract year.
The market should be robust if the Bucs listen. CBS Sports floated the Raiders, Giants and Rams as logical landing spots — teams with interior defensive line needs and, in Las Vegas' case, geographic appeal for the Northern California native. That's speculation for now; what's confirmed is only the request itself.
Interior tackles who command double teams and still get home don't shake free often. For a Tampa Bay team trying to stay atop the NFC South, losing Vea would mean redesigning the defense's foundation on the fly. For a contender with cap room, he's the kind of midsummer addition that changes a playoff ceiling.