Inside Vita Vea’s Growth
November 24th, 2023
The Bucs’ leading sacker for the second consecutive season is versatile manbeast Vita Vea.
He’s got 5 1/2 sacks, tied for Aaron Donald for 32nd-most in the league.
A man that strong and athletic should be getting to the quarterback, but Vea’s uniqueness stands out. Longtime defensive line coach Kacy Rodgers says Vea is the biggest man in the history of the NFL to not come off the field on obvious passing downs, so he told the Buccaneers Radio Network this week.
Rodgers says Vea’s growth has been very much mental.
He lauded him for heady plays Sunday; calling out a combo block in the A-gap off offensive signals and adjusting was one example.
“When I got here, [Vea] wouldn’t say anything,” Rodgers said. “Now he’s making strength calls, he’s seeing formations, he’s watching for this, he’s seeing line splits — just his growth of the game, the maturity.”
That game knowledge has translated to faster execution in Vea’s pass rush, per Rodgers, who is focusing on getting Vea to have better use of his hands and to make siutational tweaks to his stances.
Rodgers added that one reason Vea was voted a team captain is because the team sees Vea’s work rate in all aspects of the game and how he’ll play through injury.
Joe hopes Bucs fans who threw chairs because Tampa Bay didn’t draft safety Derwin James in the first round of the 2018 draft realize now that Vea was the right choice.
November 24th, 2023 at 10:25 am
Wish he had the endurance/stamina to be on the field more each game
November 24th, 2023 at 10:30 am
Love seeing him rag doll behemoths, and sack the QB with the other arm. Vea is priceless
November 24th, 2023 at 10:33 am
It was the total whiffs on JTS and Hall that are so damning.
November 24th, 2023 at 11:03 am
Dude is a beast!
76,
Keep swinging on pass rushers. We drated Hapl and JTS at the end of the 1st and top 2nd. Hopefully Diaby continues to blossom. I’d take a 33% hit rate on pass rushers after the 1st.
Jason Licht has been a great GM. He’s got a great outlook on trenches, on in which the rock star refuse to draft linemen. Thank the lord for Jason
November 24th, 2023 at 11:05 am
Holding Offense, number 73.
November 24th, 2023 at 11:58 am
Safety Derwin James — All pro
Vita Vea. 5 1/2 sacks, tied for Aaron Donald for 32nd-most in the league.
What choice James without a question mark.
November 24th, 2023 at 12:01 pm
Some player’s have three sacks in one game. We want to brag about a man with five sacks and two of them was on busted plays.
November 24th, 2023 at 12:28 pm
Anybody complaining about a DT having 5.5 sacks with 7 games to go with no edge rush is a dummy.
November 24th, 2023 at 12:29 pm
It’s sad really that your sack leader is a 350lb part time NT.
Sad.
November 24th, 2023 at 2:11 pm
JTS and Hall are not total whiffs.
They are both very athletic linemen.
They are young.
JTS should only rush the passer.
Save his energy and speed for the 2nd half. When offensive linemen are tired.
Hall is not that bad. He’s playing DE most of the time. His job is to stay in his lane and help the rush defense. Hall is not a primary pass rusher.
I think JTS are both decent players. With prototypical NFL bodies.
The NFL is hard guys.
It’s tough to get sacks.
I think Barrett came back to soon. His Achilles needed 4 more weeks.
But wtv.
Watt in the 4th quarter please. Again. When linemen are tired. Bring in the fresh legs. I don’t know why more NFL coaches realize that.
Gill too in the 4th quarter. Give him some snaps!!
November 24th, 2023 at 4:43 pm
JTS sure gets a lot of grief on here. Well, he sure ends up in the other team’s backfield on a lot of defensive plays causing disruption. That helps out VV, Barrett, and others with sacks and knocking the opposing QB’s concentration off balance. Just an observation from a fan.