As contract tensions mount in Tampa Bay, a potential blockbuster trade could send the powerhouse defensive tackle to New England to anchor the Patriots' interior defensive line.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost two franchise cornerstones a few months back, and it's possible that they could be losing another one.
Mike Evans, who played with the Bucs for 12 seasons and became the greatest receiver in team history, left for the San Francisco 49ers.
Lavonte David, who spent all 14 of his NFL seasons in Tampa, retired.
If Vita Vea leaves The Bay before the season, it will have to be via trade.
Vea is under contract through the 2026 season and is currently the 19th-highest-paid defensive tackle in the league.
Vea currently makes $17.75 million per year, and Spotrac has his market value set at almost $28 million. Vea feels he's worth more than he's getting, which led to him holding in during Tampa's recent minicamp.
The fact that the Tennessee Titans just extended defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons to a three-year, $105.8 million deal could also give Vea leverage, and all of this has led people to wonder whether the Bucs could trade Vea.
Head coach Todd Bowles isn't concerned, or at least he isn't telling the public that he is.
But that won't stop people from wondering if Vea will go somewhere else, and one possible destination is the defending AFC champs.
Since Vince Wilfork left the New England Patriots after the 2014 season, the Patriots have been looking for a beast at defensive tackle. Currently, the Pats have a solid defensive line led by Christian Barmore (50 pressures in 2025, ninth in the NFL per Pro Football Focus) and Milton Williams (71.5 pass rush grade).
But what the Patriots don't have is a hoss who stuffs the run, and that's what the 6-foot-4, 347-pound Vea would give them. For all of Tampa's problems in 2025, the Bucs were still among the best run defenses in football (fifth in the league in average rushing yards per game against), and it'd be crazy to think that Vea wasn't a big part of that, both literally and figuratively.
Tampa was also third in opposing rushing yards allowed per game in 2024 and fourth in 2023, so this has been going on for a while.
An advantage that New England has over Tampa is in the salary cap.
The Patriots currently have the fifth-most cap room in football per Spotrac, whereas only four teams in the league have fewer cap room than the Bucs, who still have to work out Baker Mayfield's contract.
It would be tough for Bucs fans to stomach a third franchise cornerstone leaving, but if it does happen, New England would make sense.
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