Since Buccaneers defensive tackle Vita Vearequested a trade at the end of July, there have been reports suggesting the parties are entrenched in their respective stances. We heard earlier this week that Tampa Bay was not giving thought to honoring the trade request, and just one day later, Vea’s agent, Collin Roberts, said he could not envision any outcome other than a trade.
It was then the club’s turn to continue the volley, and GM Jason Licht obliged.
“I have no plans on trading Vita,” Licht said, one day after Roberts’ statement (via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times). “We love Vita. We’ve been engaged with his agent recently. I don’t know how it’s going to end, but we’ve been engaged, and that’s at least some progress.”
Of course, Licht did not divulge any details of the negotiations or what he means by “progress,” and those comments directly contrast Roberts’ suggestion that there has been no forward movement in dicussions. Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network offered his speculation on a potential outcome (video link).
Per Rapoport, if the Bucs are not going to give the 31-year-old DT an extension, and if they are not going to trade him, perhaps the two sides could find a middle ground in the form of a raise or guaranteed money. As a vested veteran, Vea may feel that even a full guarantee of his $17MM salary for 2026 – the final year of his current contract – will not move the needle much, as that salary would become guaranteed if he is on the Week 1 roster anyway.
However, a raise could be a different story. The AAV on Vea’s current deal is roughly half of Jeffery Simmons’ annual average, and it is less than half of Jalen Carter’s mark (both Simmons and Carter signed their extensions this summer). While Vea is not going to reach those heights even if he were to sign a new deal with the Bucs or some other team, a bump in pay moving him up the DT hierarchy may be sufficiently appealing to get him to play out the ‘26 campaign in Tampa.
The issue there is that the Bucs presently have just $8.37MM in cap space, so they do not have a ton of flexibility to greenlight a raise without also extending Vea’s deal. A prior report suggested Tampa Bay was not in a rush to work out a new contract, so unless Licht’s urgency in that regard changes, a trade remains a possibility. If the Licht considers that route, multiple clubs reportedly would be interested.