The Buccaneers have already spent the offseason saying goodbye to familiar faces, and Vita Vea has become the latest reminder of what Tampa Bay still needs to sort out.
At 31, Vea is no longer the young star who helped lift the Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl LV. He’s one of the veterans left from that team, and his hold-in makes sense. The Bucs have moved on from franchise pillars like Mike Evans and Lavonte David, but this is one situation Jason Licht can’t really let linger.
Tampa Bay has usually done right by its own. This offseason, though, the Bucs have already drifted from that pattern with Vea and Baker Mayfield. And now the market keeps handing Vea more leverage.
The latest boost came Monday, when the Green Bay Packers extended defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt on a three-year, $57 million deal. That works out to $19 million per year, and it immediately pushes the conversation around Vea’s next contract higher.
That came on top of the Tennessee Titans extending Jeffery Simmons in late June. Simmons’ deal reset the top end of the market in a major way, with his average annual salary landing at nearly $35.3 million.
Vea currently makes $17.75 million per year, so Simmons widened the gap dramatically. But even with that deal on the books, Tampa Bay still hadn’t moved to get Vea signed.
Wyatt’s contract changes the floor.
By any football measure, Wyatt is not in Vea’s class. He’s 28, which is really the only edge he has in this comparison, and he’s coming off a season in which he missed seven games in 2025 and 11 total over the last two years.
Vea, meanwhile, has missed just three games over the last three seasons. That matters, and it matters a lot.
The PFF numbers for both players in 2025 tell the same story.
Vea remains the engine of Tampa Bay’s defense. Since becoming a full-time starter in 2019, the Bucs have had the league’s No. 1 run defense, and they’ve finished in the top five in six of eight seasons. That isn’t an accident.
He’s been a force from the 0 and 1-tech spots, able to collapse pockets and win inside, but his value goes well beyond pass rush. Vea is one of the league’s best two-gappers, and his presence has made life easier for everyone else on the defensive line and at linebacker.
With David now retired, Vea’s ability to stop the run carries even more weight. Licht and Todd Bowles know what they have, and the expectation is that a deal gets done before the season that works for both sides.
One thing is clear now: if Wyatt is at $19 million per year, Vea’s next number has to climb past that.
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