The Buzz Surrounding Vita Vea In 2025

Let’s put the spotlight on Bucs nose tackle Vita Vea.

With the 2024 season firmly in the rearview mirror and the pre-draft process, free agency, the draft itself, OTAs and mini-camp also behind us, it’s time to ramp up the excitement for training camp and then, of course, the Bucs’ 50th season. As we did last summer, we’ll spend the weeks leading up to training camp focusing on some storylines and narratives surrounding some of Tampa Bay’s biggest stars in 2025.

So far, we’ve worked our way through storylines for nine players on offense: quarterback Baker Mayfield, running backs Bucky Irving and Rachaad White, wide receivers Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan, tight end Cade Otton and offensive tackles Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke.

From there, we moved over to the defensive side of the ball. We started with defensive lineman Calijah Kancey, and now we move on to nose tackle Vita Vea, who is entering his eighth season with the Bucs.

How Much Damage Can Vita Vea Do With A More Complete Pass Rush?

Have we even seen the most disruptive version of Vita Vea yet? There’s a case to be made that, despite entering Year 8 and his age-30 season in 2025, there’s still an even higher level that the two-time Pro Bowler can reach.

It has less to do with more improvement to his game and more to do with the pass rushers around him. The group still has to go out and prove it on the field this season, but it’s no stretch to say this is the most pass rushing talent Vea has had around him since he’s reached his peak powers. Let me explain.

Early in his career, Vea was a better run defender and pass rusher. The pass rush he did provide on the interior of the Bucs defensive line was often seen less on the stat sheet and more on tape. He had only three sacks in his 2018 rookie year, but he managed 26 pressures. The next year, his sack total went down to 2.5, but his pressure total went up to 57. Then, unfortunately, he missed much of the 2020 season with a broken leg before returning just in time for Tampa Bay’s NFC Championship Game victory over Green Bay.

So, Vea was something of a work in progress as a pass rusher during the peak years of the Shaq Barrett-Jason Pierre-Paul duo. He was a Pro Bowler in 2021, but that was still with only four sacks. Barrett had 10 that year, but Pierre-Paul’s decline hit him fast. And by the time Vea broke out with 6.5 sacks – a career high at the time – Pierre-Paul was gone and Barrett’s peak was unfortunately behind him.

Vea followed up that 6.5-sack 2022 season with another 5.5 sacks in 2023, which was just behind rookie Yaya Diaby (7.5) for the team lead. In 2024, the big nose tackle set a new career high with seven sacks and earned his second Pro Bowl selection. But as he enters 2025, he might be in position to go a step further and once again set a new career high for sacks – even at 30 years old.

Calijah Kancey, who perfectly complements Vea on the interior of the Bucs defensive line, appears to be primed for a breakout this year, one even beyond the 7.5-sack year he had in 2024. Logan Hall, the other interior lineman who sees regular action, just had his own sort of breakout last year with a career-high 5.5 sacks and looked much improved. Plus, factor in a burgeoning Yaya Diaby (who has double-digit sack potential) and veteran newcomer Haason Reddick (a two-time Pro Bowler with four double-digit sack seasons) and you have perhaps the most complete-looking pass rush Tampa Bay has had in some time.

The depth at outside linebacker behind Diaby and Reddick is strong as well, with a veteran in Anthony Nelson as well as two promising young pass rushers in 2024 second-round pick Chris Braswell and 2025 fourth-round pick David Walker.

So, what’s the point? The point is that Vea has come a long way since the last time the Bucs had this much firepower rushing the passer. A proven rusher like Reddick combined with a more developed Diaby rather than an underwhelming Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and gifted-but-raw Diaby? That could work wonders for Vea. He doesn’t have to be the leading sacker like he was in 2022, and he doesn’t need to reach double-digit sacks. We just might see him be even more effective as a key cog in this version of the Buccaneer pass rush.

It’s easy to see how he and Kancey will disrupt the pocket up the middle and flush quarterbacks to their left and right – right into Diaby, Reddick or another one of the outside guys. And it’s easy to see the outside ‘backers creating quick pressure off the edge to collapse the pocket and create sack opportunities for the interior guys. And that’s an exciting prospect for head coach Todd Bowles, his staff and the Tampa Bay faithful.

Will Vita Vea’s Age Start To Show At All In 2025?

It’s a little hard to believe it, but Vita Vea is already entering his eighth NFL season in 2025. The Bucs’ 2018 first-round pick turned 30 years old in February and has 95 career games under his belt. Could that show at all on the field in 2025? That’s naturally a question that comes up for players once they hit 30 and beyond.

What works in Vea’s favor is the body transformation he worked toward last offseason, as he came into training camp slimmer and a bit quicker. The goal was to lose some of that extra weight in hopes of staying healthier – and extending his career in the NFL. He was helped by a trip out west to work out with longtime NFL defensive tackle and former teammate Ndamukong Suh, who knows a thing or two about taking care of himself and playing deep into his 30s.

“I was out there in sunny Portland (Oregon),” Vea said last summer. “Just grinding away, a lot of early morning stuff. We got it together, he took me under his wing and took care of me out there. … It’s just one of those things, the Portland trip, Suh has always invited me to come train with him in Portland. It’s just one of those things that finally – I always said I was going to come, every year it was the same answer of, ‘I’m coming out,’ but never went. And then this past offseason I finally pulled the trigger on it and went out there.”

Suh didn’t play in 2023 or 2024, but he played the 2022 season at the age of 35 and only just officially announced his retirement this past weekend at the age of 38. Vea seemed to take his time training with Suh to heart last summer, and it paid off. He was in the best shape of his career entering the season, and he went on to only miss one game, playing the other 16 and finishing with a career-high 756 snaps.

Vea also set new career highs with seven sacks and 10 tackles for loss on his way to his second Pro Bowl. And at 29, he certainly didn’t look like he was even close to slowing down.

That bodes well for the man who has served as the anchor of Tampa Bay’s defensive line since being selected with the No. 12 pick in the 2018 Draft. As he works his way through his age-30 season and beyond, he might find himself looking to be the next Buccaneer to try his hand at defying Father Time. Tom Brady did it, Lavonte David is doing it right now and Mike Evans is, too.

Is Vita Vea next? He’s currently under contract with the Bucs for 2025 and 2026, and he’ll surely be looking to follow in Suh’s footsteps and keep playing well into his mid-30s.

How High Can Vita Vea Climb On Bucs’ All-Time Leaderboards?

Vita Vea has already carved out a special place in Bucs history. In fact, in the latest installment of Pewter Report’s Top 50 all-time Bucs series, Vea came in at No. 19.

Over seven seasons, Vea has played in 95 games with 90 starts and has totaled 30.5 sacks, 41 tackles for loss, 66 quarterback hits, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and seven passes defensed. He’s a two-time Pro Bowl selection and while he missed the majority of the 2020 regular season with a fractured ankle, he did make an unexpected-but-welcome return to the lineup in time for the NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl.

And he was one of the stars of Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl boat parade.

The point is, Vea has accomplished a lot in his seven-year career and already has a special spot in Bucs history. But he’s on the hunt for more, and he could make some big-time moves up the franchise’s all-time leaderboards this season.

With 30.5 career sacks, Vea just inside of the franchise’s top 10 all-time. With just three more sacks in 2025, he’ll pass Brad Culpepper (33.0 between 1994-1999) and Jason Pierre-Paul (33.0 between 2018-2021) for eighth-most in team history. From there, he’ll only be 1.5 away from passing Chidi Ahanotu (34.5 between 1993-2000 and 2004) for seventh-most.

In other words, a 4.5-sack season will get Vea up to seventh in Buccaneers history. Anything beyond that will have him in contention to reach as high as sixth, though that spot is currently shared by David Logan (39.0 between 1979-1985) and Lavonte David, who has 39.0 sacks and counting. Eventually passing Logan (he’s nine away) would be significant, as it would mean he trails only Warren Sapp (77.0 between 1995-2003) and Gerald McCoy (54.5 between 2010-2018) among interior defensive linemen in Tampa Bay.

Vea’s 95 games rank him 52nd in Bucs history, but another healthy season could carry him into the top 30. Playing 17 games would give him 112, which would tie Donald Penn for 29th all-time.