Vita Vea Is Loving One Thing About Buccaneers Rookie Rueben Bain Jr.

Vita Vea spoke to the media for the first time since he signed a one-year, $30 million contract extension with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after a very contentious process that saw the veteran nose tackle publicly ask for a trade to force the franchise's hand.

Vea was undoubtedly stoked to get his bag and rightfully be paid as one of the top trench mainstays in the league, but he also spoke very highly of some of his new running mates on defense. In particular, he had a lot of great things to say about rookie outside linebacker Rueben Bain Jr.

Vita Vea Discusses What He's Seen From Rookie Rueben Bain

Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Vita Vea (50) warms up before the game against the Carolina Panthers | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

"Shoot, Rueben is a complete pro. You just see it day in and day out. I think there's videos of him [where] you see him out there by himself, but he does a lot more behind the scenes when nobody is around," Vea said.

"Just seeing how he carries himself, you don't really see that in a bunch of young guys, so just seeing the hunger and determination in his eyes, it's good to have on your side," Vea said. "He already knows so much of the game, so just talking to him about football, that's the least of my worries about him. I feel like he has so much upside, and we're glad to have him. I feel like everybody who passed up on him in the draft made a mistake."

Vea isn't the only one to believe that 14 other NFL franchises made a mistake by not drafting Bain and letting him fall all the way to the Bucs at 15.

Bain has been everything as advertised and more for the Bucs since he arrived shortly after being drafted in April.

He has embraced the community, taken on learning the defense early, showcased his talents and can regularly be seen putting in extra work after each day of practice in the scorching Florida summer heat.

Bain is clearly making an impact on his teammates early in his career, and it appears that despite his lack of verbosity, he will be a leader on that side of the ball for years to come thanks to his commitment to the game and passion to lead by example rather than as a rah-rah type of guy.

The Buccaneers revamped their entire defense this offseason, paying close attention to improving the defensive line while getting more physical across the board.

Bain more than fits that mold and figures to be a huge piece of the amount of success that side of the ball will see in 2026.

If he is able to bring even a bit of what we have seen thus far in practice to each game, the sky will be the limit for the young pass rusher.

While Vea prepares himself to return to the field from a "tweaked back", we will see Bain in his first NFL action in the Bucs' second preseason game against the Kansas City Chiefs, albeit in limited fashion.

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