Vita Vea is ready to hit the ground running after he and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers finally agreed to a one-year contract extension for $30 million. Having not trained the entire summer, the defensive tackle is starting to get the reps in ahead of the season opener.
The Buccaneers’ head coach, Todd Bowles, provided an update that the Buc Nation has been waiting for right through the summer.
Vea had tweaked his back during a conditioning test, but according to Bowles’ comments which was reported, Vea “should be good to go” when the Buccaneers travel to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals.
Bowles did clarify that Vea will not be available for either of the preseason games against the Chiefs and Jaguars.
After a period of limbo when Vea didn’t train as his contract extention hand in the balance, Vea will be back to training as he begins to prepare for his ninth season for the Buccaneers, who drafted him as a first-round pick back in 2018.
“I always wanted to be a Buc,” said Vea after agreeing to the new deal.” I wanted to be a Buc for life. That’s why I’m glad we were able to get this done. This is something that happens every year; it just so happened to be me this year. There’s just stuff we had to figure out on both sides, and we got it all squared away.”
The deal should put Vea in good spirits, and he wasn’t only happy to sign the deal but also came out and defended the head coach Bowles, against any negative narratives brewing around him.
“I want to set the record straight. We all love Bowles,” said Vea. “It is not what he is doing. He is telling us what to do and giving us all the answers to the test, and it is on us players to be able to go out there and execute what he is telling us to do.”
The media had turned their attention towards Bowles after the contract standoff between Vea and the Buccaneers, but Vea at 31, is ready to give it his all for the coach.
“He is always putting us into the best position to play, said Vea before making a massive statement. “If anything, blame us players for not executing. Bowles puts us into the best position to play. I even told Bowles, ‘The day you retire is the day I retire.’”
While Bucs fans will hope that neither Bowles nor Vea is anywhere near retiring, Vea will be out hunting his third All-Pro nod following his 2021 to 2024 seasons.
Vea is a crucial cog in the Buccaneers’ defence. In 8 seasons, he has played 112 games, making 256 total tackles, including 154 solo tackles and 35 sacks.
For Bucs fans, the Vea extension seems like a miracle, not least because of how he came back from an ankle injury in the early parts of the regular season in 2020 for the NFC Championship game in 2021, before making sure his presence hurt the Kansas City Chiefs, who were decimated to a Bucs 31-9 victory to take Super Bowl LV.