The Tampa Bay Buccaneers aren’t letting Vita Vea go anywhere — but not without a serious push from the Buffalo Bills, who attempted to trade for the 2-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle and Super Bowl champion.
Vea was headed into the final season of the 4-year, $71 million contract extension he signed in 2022 but agreed to a new extension on Wednesday.
“ESPN sources: Two-time Pro-Bowl DT Vita Vea and the Buccaneers reached agreement today on a one-year extension for $30 million, tying him to Tampa Bay for two more seasons,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter wrote on his official X account on Wednesday night. “He gets $6 million in new money this season. Talks heated up Tuesday night and resulted in the agreement today … the Buccaneers’ extension with Vita Vea means he’ll play his 9th and 10th NFL seasons with the same team that drafted him No. 12 overall in 2018.”
The Bills and Chicago Bears turned out to be the 2 teams most in play to land Vea after he opened training camp by requesting a trade.
“The Bears and Bills were among the teams with interest in trading for Vita Vea, but the Bucs never wanted to move him, per sources,” NFL insider Jordan Schultz wrote on his official X account. “The deal is now done and Vea is under contract in total for 2 years, $54M.”
More Details on Vita Vea’s Guaranteed Money
Vea has been a “hold-in” throughout training camp — meaning he’s been in attendance but not participating in practices.
“The $30 million extension for Buccaneers DT Vita Vea is fully guaranteed, meaning $48 million over the next two seasons is fully guaranteed,” NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo wrote on his official X account.
“It’s actually on brand for the Bucs to get deals done at this point of camp and they get another one done,” NFL on Prime’s James Palmer wrote on his official X account. “Vita Vea expected to obviously return to the field now after this extension is done. The two sides had been talking for a few weeks to try and figure something out and eventually found a way to bridge the gap. The perception around the league was that the Bucs were going to get Vea on the field and had no intention of trading one of their best defensive players.”
Burgeoning DT Market Kept Pushing Price Up
As the new contracts piled up for the NFL’s elite interior defensive linemen over the last month, the pressure for both Vea’s camp and the Buccaneers to get a deal done seemed to ratchet up.
The Top 3 highest-paid interior defensive linemen in the NFL all signed new contract extensions this offseason. Two of those — Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Quinnen Williams and Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter — both got their deals done in the last month.
Vea’s $30 million per year in salary puts him in the Top 5 highest-paid interior defensive linemen in the NFL. When his new deal runs out following the 2027 season, he will have approximately $124.4 million in career earnings.
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