Former Bucs Super Bowl champion has strong words for Tampa Bay front office regarding Vita Vea, but he misses the mark
The Bucs and their veteran DT are on shaky ground with 2026 training camp getting ready to start, and one notable former Tampa Bay starter had some strong thoughts about it.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and defensive lineman Vita Vea are in an awkward spot heading into the start of training camp. The Bucs and their 2018 first round pick have been unable to agree on a contract extension, with Vea entering the final year of his current deal.
That led to a potential breaking point in the relationship on Monday, just one day before the start of training camp, when NFL insiders revealed that Vea has requested a trade due to his inability to get a long-term deal from the Bucs.
Vea’s former defensive linemate in Tampa, Ndamukong Suh, shared his thoughts on the situation on his Twitter/X account on Monday night, and he had some…curious thoughts about the situation.
Former Bucs DT Ndamukong Suh calls out Bucs for handling of Vita Vea contract negotiation, says no one should just ‘show up to work for free’
“I’ve never understood why teams want to wait until the last minute to have discussions or create even further tension in a relationship where it could just be easily, clear, clean communication,” Suh said. “But why wait until the last minute?
“To me it’s very, very odd to why not saying if this is a cornerstone player of your organization, somebody that’s helped you win a championship, multiple Pro Bowls, and has an opportunity to still play at a very, very high level for your organization, if you value them, you tell them that and let’s figure out a mutual relationship versus waiting until the very last minute.
“And who in their right mind would go to a job and have no guarantee of what their salary is going to be? Like, to me, I’m not going to go work out for free and play for free, and you wouldn’t just show up to work for free.”
There’s obviously a lot to unpack with Suh’s message, but the most obvious flaw is that Vea, of course, does not show up to One Buc Place and work “for free”. He actually has a base salary of $17 million for 2026 due under his current contract.
Suh’s argument about loyalty and owing what’s due for winning a championship is also flawed, because, A), that’s not how things work in the NFL. You’re paid on new deals for your value you bring to winning now, not for what you’ve already done. And B) Vea has already been rewarded for delivering a title with a hefty extension. He signed a new deal around a year after the Bucs won Super Bowl LV, inking a four-year, $71 million contract in January 2022. The thanks from the organization was baked into that cake.
It’s hard to see the Bucs paying Vea significant money long term, but perhaps there could be a logical solution for the rest of 2026
Now, reality has to be faced. Vea played solidly last year, but he’s still on the wrong side of 30 at 31. It’s hard to consider paying anywhere near top tier of the market money for multiple years in that spot.
But perhaps there’s still time and room to come to a potentially acceptable arrangement for 2026, with Vea testing his free agent market after the season. Vea’s $17,750,000 average annual contract value ranks 21st among NFL interior defensive linemen, according to Spotrac. Vea has outperformed that rank. Giving him a bump in salary for the rest of the year to more align him with his place in the NFL pantheon would be a fair offering from the Buccaneers going into a final season together.
Will something get done? We’ll find out in the coming days, as Tampa Bay’s training camp gets underway in full on Tuesday with veterans reporting.