ESPN floats Panthers as Vita Vea trade fit, completely overlooking one of the biggest additions Carolina made
The Carolina Panthers were linked as one of the five teams that should pursue Tampa Bay Buccaneers Pro Bowl nose tackle Vita Vea and frankly they should be the last team to even consider this an option.
The Carolina Panthers were named one of five teams that could trade for Tampa Bay Buccaneers nose tackle Vita Vea, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. Fowler pointed to an “OK” season from Bobby Brown III as the reasoning behind it along with the sentiment slowly changing on interdivisional trades.
Fowler’s suggestion frankly makes zero sense and shows how out of touch he is with what’s going on in Carolina, which shouldn’t be a surprise from a national reporter. Let’s first start with the elephant in the room Fowler failed to even mention, which happens to be the biggest man currently on the practice field at training camp in Lee Hunter.
The Panthers literally just used a second-round pick on Hunter, and even traded up to get him, for that exact role. Hunter has been a standout player all offseason, and the idea that the Panthers need to go acquire an expensive nose tackle from a division rival that is past his prime ignores what’s happening right in front of everyone in Carolina.
Lee Hunter has been making his presence felt with Panthers for weeks now
Hunter has been a force throughout the entire offseason. He’s a massive, physical presence in the middle of that defensive line, and the early returns suggest he can anchor the nose tackle spot Carolina needs him to fill. The Panthers didn’t trade up in the second-round on a whim. They identified Hunter as the player who fits their defensive front, and everything we’ve seen so far supports that decision.
“A lot of good feedback just talking to our starting offensive linemen that went against him,” Panthers GM Dan Morgan said last week. “Definitely got a lot of good feedback on how strong he is, how physical he is. He’s quick off the ball, he’s quicker than you think. He’s more mobile than you think. A lot of good feedback and another young rookie that we’re excited about. Looking forward to seeing him compete out there.”
The expectation should be that Hunter wins the starting nose tackle job over Bobby Brown III and lines up alongside Derrick Brown and eventually Turk Wharton on that defensive front. He has the size, the physicality, and the early-camp production to suggest he’s ready for that role sooner rather than later. He could also be a tweener at nose tackle and defensive end in Carolina’s 3-4 scheme once everyone is healthy.
This trade logic falls apart from every angle
Even if you set Hunter aside for a moment, the idea that Tampa Bay would trade one of its best players to a division rival doesn’t hold up. The Panthers just beat out the Buccaneers for the NFC South title. Why would Tampa help Carolina get better by sending over a player of Vea’s caliber?
From a financial standpoint, this falls apart even more. The Panthers barely have more cap space than the Buccaneers, so if the Bucs can’t afford to pay their own star a new deal, how would the Panthers be able to do it?
Trading for Vea would undermine the Hunter investment and block the development of a young player who has the potential to be much more than a rotational piece. Carolina doesn’t need to go wasting assets and more money for a nose tackle when the one they drafted is already turning heads.
Fowler is a great reporter, but this felt like a complete oversight to try and spark some interdivisional attention. The Panthers have real needs they could look into if they wanted to be aggressive ahead of the season, but this isn’t one of them. Not with Hunter on the roster and performing the way he has early in camp