The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 0-2 to start the 2026 NFL regular season, and while much of the scrutiny, as far as players go, has been rightfully placed on the shoulders of star quarterback Baker Mayfield, you could argue that the other big name to get a huge contract this past offseason, nose tackel Vita Vea, has been even more disappointing.
As bad as Mayfield has been in throwing away two easliy winnable games for the Buccaneers, at least he did make some positive plays for his team. Meanwhile, Vea, in a position facing far less scrutiny and challenges, has been absolutely invisble, coming nowhere near making good on the contract handed to him by the Bucs after his little offseason tantrum. Through two games, he has made just two assisted tackles.
What makes the Buccaneers giving Vea a big contract and getting nothing in return from him through the first two weeks look even worse is the fact that the Bucs could have feasibly traded him to a contender for a second round pick. And given the fact that the Bucs best defensive player so far in the 2026 season has been a second round pick in inside linebacker Josiah Trotter, that sort of compensation is nothing to sneeze at.
Vita Vea isn't making any impact for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The other thing is that even a bad Baker Mayfield is still better than the alternative for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at quarterback this season, because their only other option is undrafted free agent rookie Jalon Daniels out of Kansas. And while the former Jayhawk was mighty impressive in offseason workouts and in preseason games, he is obviously nowhere near ready to start.
For the Bucs, the concern with Mayfield is that his three fumbles against the Cincinnati Bengals and his woeful performance against Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland Browns, combined with last season's horrid collapse, is further sign that he is not a real franchise quarterback and that the long term cost of his signing will hammer the organization.
But in the short term, paying Vea, an older player who impacts the franchise less as a nose tackle, could prove to be a bigger misstep. Now, the real overarching problem for the defensive stars who are underperforming, like Vea, is the fact that Todd Bowles is the one coaching him. But that argument also holds for Mayfield in the sense that Bowles is holding him back.
The difference is that the Buccaneers could have gotten picks for Vea, avoided sinking money into a nose tackle, and avoided sinking money into a player who, even if he were to be better than this, would not make a dent in the final line the same way an improved Mayfield could.
Add us as a preferred source on Google