Broken Ankle Ends Vea's NFL Season, Which Was Off to Great Start
Vita Vea, his NFL career just beginning to take off in his third year in Tampa Bay, was lost for the season when he suffered a broken ankle in Thursday night's 20-19 loss to Chicago.
With 1:42 left in the game, TV replays showed the former University of Washington defensive tackle and fellow Buccaneers defender Devin White bringing down Chicago running back David Montgomery and Vea's ankle getting caught under his teammate's weight and twisted in a gruesome manner.
The 6-foot-4, 347-pound Vea let out a loud groan and had to be taken off the field on a cart.
Bucs coach Bruce Arians called Vea's injury a "big, big loss."
The California native was a first-round draft pick in 2018 after he left the UW as a junior to enter the NFL draft and was named the Pac-12's Defensive Player of the Year and Morris Trophy winner.
Vea was credited with frequently drawing double-teams and collapsing the pocket, freeing up others and making the Tampa Bay defense difficult to run against. He had two sacks among his 10 tackles this season.
The former Husky started all five games this season and 29 of 34 in his NFL career. He'd compiled 73 career tackles so far, 46 solo.
"You can plug the next man in, but they're not the same," Arians said of replacing Vea. "I hate it for him because he was having such a great year."
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