Vita Vea Requests Trade From Buccaneers As Contract Talks Collapse

Vita Vea, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle, has asked the team to trade him after months of stalled negotiations over a new contract, agent Collin Roberts confirmed Monday.

The move caps a tense offseason for Vea, 31, who is entering the final year of the four-year, $71 million extension he signed in 2022. He is due roughly $17-18 million this season, none of it guaranteed. Frustration had been building for weeks: Vea skipped Tampa Bay’s voluntary spring program and then “held in” at mandatory minicamp in June, showing up but not practicing as a show of discontent. At the time, head coach Todd Bowles downplayed the standoff, calling it simply part of the business of pro football.

According to Roberts, Vea hasn’t targeted a specific destination — he only asked out if the Buccaneers weren’t prepared to offer him a deal beyond this season. Other reporting suggests Vea would prefer to land with a California team or the Las Vegas Raiders, closer to his home state.

The trade request lands atop an already crowded list of financial headaches for general manager Jason Licht. Quarterback Baker Mayfield, entering the last year of his own three-year, $100 million deal, has likewise been pushing for an extension without success. Mayfield has said he won’t negotiate once training camp — which opened Tuesday — gets underway.

Vea remains one of the league’s most disruptive interior defenders. Selected 12th overall out of Washington in 2018, he has racked up 35 sacks across eight seasons and started for Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl LV championship team.

Last season he played all 17 games, adding 4.5 sacks and 34 tackles. Analysts note that at his age and price point — he currently ranks among the higher-paid defensive tackles in the league — moving on could make long-term sense for a rebuilding front office, even as it would leave an immediate hole against the run.

Vea is expected to report to Buccaneers training camp regardless of the trade request, though whether he participates is unclear. League insiders caution that trade requests at this stage of the calendar are often as much a leverage tactic as a genuine exit demand — meaning a new deal in Tampa Bay, not a trade, could still be the ultimate outcome.