Behind The Vita Vea Draft-Day Trade
April 22nd, 2026
Opening night of the draft — tomorrow night! — always has Joe remembering what might be the finest hours of Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht.
They would be the days of the 2018 NFL Draft, when Licht secured five key cogs of the Bucs’ Super Bowl team two years later.
Licht traded down in Round 1 with Buffalo — from No. 7 to No. 12 — and drafted Vita Vea. He also pocketed two second-round picks. One became defensive back M.J. Stewart (not good) and one became stud cornerback Carlton Davis after another artful trade down. The Bucs could have selected Davis with the No. 56 overall pick they received from Buffalo, but Licht dealt that to New England for the No. 63 pick and a fourth-round rounder. Licht took Davis at No. 63 (Round 2) and that fourth-rounder from the Patriots became bone-crushing Super Bowl starting safety Jordan Whitehead.
Also in that draft, Licht bagged running back Ronald Jones and guard Alex Cappa, productive starters on the 2020 Super Bowl champs.
Now that’s how to maneuver a draft!
Meanwhile, quarterback Josh Allen, who Buffalo grabbed at No. 7, is still looking for his first trip to a Super Bowl.
Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane was on ESPN TV today talking about that trade with the Bucs.
Beane explained that weeks before the draft he was trying to trade up from No. 21 overall to secure a spot to draft a top QB prospect but he found no takers. So Beane traded left tackle Cordy Glenn in March of 2018 to Cincinnati for a swap of first-round picks. That got Beane to the No. 12 overall pick, which led to an interested Licht.
Joe suspects Licht is now dealing with trade challenges sort of similar to what Beane initially endured — nobody wanting to make a reasonable offer for the Bucs’ No. 15 overall pick.
April 22nd, 2026 at 2:18 pm
MJ Stewart a bad pick? He’s cut by the Bucs and at 30 has been in the league ever since- more than the aforementioned Edwards and Whitehead
No. 1, Edwards was drafted in 2019 and not mentioned in this story.
No. 2, Stewart was a bad pick for the Bucs, which is what this site cares about.
Happy for the guy that he has had a lucrative career. –Joe
April 22nd, 2026 at 2:18 pm
so it was better to get those 3 guys and not Josh Allen? Hmm.
April 22nd, 2026 at 2:22 pm
Bills are relevant for 10-15 years with Allen
Bucs are an after thought, again
April 22nd, 2026 at 2:27 pm
Bucs have a ring; Buffalow has a burning ring of fire.
April 22nd, 2026 at 2:32 pm
I was in Tonga a month ago and asked about Vita and a few people knew about him
April 22nd, 2026 at 2:41 pm
“so it was better to get those 3 guys and not Josh Allen? Hmm.”
3 football players instead of 1? When we had a QB on a rookie deal?
in the words of Terrance Howard “C’mon mane”
April 22nd, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Jason Licht was set on making a star of his prizes #1 overall draft pick
He didn’t giving it a second thought of drafting Josh Allen
But l was cool with the trade
I just thought he should have drafted Roquan Smith
April 22nd, 2026 at 3:30 pm
If Licht drafted Allen we’d still be waiting for our second Super Bowl Trophy. If we had Allen we wouldn’t have signed Brady!
April 22nd, 2026 at 3:34 pm
It sounds like these draft day trades are tough to do. It’s easier to understand Licht when he says he has to have a trade partner and it’s not so easy.
April 22nd, 2026 at 3:35 pm
And, then Carlton Davis turned into JMac. That’s how you do it. You never wanna lose good players with value, for NOTHING. I was at Sports Legends (old Tilted-Kilt) in Clearwater, that night of the Vea Pick. Everyone was SHOCKED with it… You could hear the groans. I was actually good with it. Though, Derwin James was “MY-Pick.” I ended up turning most people around on it Vea, even though, I wanted James. It was just that most people didn’t know WHO the hell Vea even was… A monster D-Lineman from fricken Washington Lmao. They were all like, “WHO!?” “WHAT!?” LoL.
April 22nd, 2026 at 3:37 pm
“always has Joe remembering what might be the finest hours of Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht”
Some might say his worst hour of being a GM, being he passed on a HOF, MVP QB. I’m surprised in the joes for thinking this was his “finest” hr.
When you can walk out of a draft with 5 starters on your Super Bowl team 2 years later, that’s a rare achievement, more rare than drafting a Hall of Famer. The GMs are in it to win Super Bowls (and to keep their jobs).–Joe
April 22nd, 2026 at 3:39 pm
Would you rather have a hall of fame QB or a Super Bowl Trophy?👆👆👆👆
April 22nd, 2026 at 3:41 pm
Oh ya I love buffalos strategy of staying relevant, winning the division and getting booted out of the playoffs for a decade…. Wait….. kinda sounds familar
April 22nd, 2026 at 3:53 pm
👆👆👆 Having a Lombardi and staying relevant?………..YES Please!!!👆👆👆
April 22nd, 2026 at 3:57 pm
Yeah no comparison to a QB that hasn’t gone past maybe 2 playoff games to guys that contributed to a SB win and they did contribute. A LOT. The Bucs may win another SB before Allen get’s his first, IF he even gets one. Look at Marino. I remember reading someone saying to watch Vea to the Bucs just before the draft, like week of.
April 22nd, 2026 at 3:57 pm
That worked out well. Never thought of Josh Allen in a bucs uniform for 15 years. HMMMMMM. Allen is an incredible player.
April 22nd, 2026 at 3:58 pm
MVP and HOF are worlds apart.
April 22nd, 2026 at 4:03 pm
I really believe Jason Licht wanted Roquan Smith
But l believe he thought Roquan would be available at 12
The Bears drafted Roquan with the next pick after Allen
But l really do believe Roquan was his guy
It’s hard to pass up a trade , like the one the Bills were offering
April 22nd, 2026 at 4:21 pm
A lot of ya’ll want Licht gone but think about this for a second. Without JL bringing in Ariens and without the team that JL assembled, through the draft, trades and free agency we don’t get Brady.
Brady was looking to prove that he could win a Suoer Bowl without Belichick. We all know that without question. Ya’ll think Brady’s people didn’t thoroughly study every team in the league and land on the Bucs being the place he had the best chance of winning another Lombardi?
Ya’ll think Brady just woke up one morning and said to himself “ya know, I really like the BBQ at Wild Oak, I think I’m going to Tampa!”.
If we didn’t get Bradt we wouldn’t have gotten Gronk, Fournette and Antonio Brown.
Without all of those guys we wouldn’t have won the Super Bowl.
You guys that complain about JL only see and acknowledge his mistakes. If you step back and look at his total body of work as GM of our Tampa Bay Buccaneers and if you’re honest and objective, you’ll see that Jason Licht has done a pretty dang good job.
April 22nd, 2026 at 4:23 pm
It was a really good draft for JL. No arguments here. JL has done a good job for this franchise overall.
April 22nd, 2026 at 4:55 pm
Hopes on 2027 Says:
April 22nd, 2026 at 2:18 pm
so it was better to get those 3 guys and not Josh Allen? Hmm.
———
There’s no realistic scenario where the Bucs were taking Allen.
So yes, getting Vita, Davis and Whitehead, and a SB ring because of it was the correct move.
April 22nd, 2026 at 4:57 pm
“Ya’ll think Brady’s people didn’t thoroughly study every team in the league and land on the Bucs being the place he had the best chance of winning another Lombardi?“
Brady watched a 2019 Bucs team with enough talent to get two WRs to a pro bowl and somehow managed to finish 3rd in scoring with a QB that threw 30 INTs. That probably played as big a part to drawing Tom to Tampa than any one person.
April 22nd, 2026 at 5:00 pm
Josh Allen is not a future HoF QB yet. He could get there but my guess is that he never wins it all and he misses the HoF.
I would much rather be the Bucs – one of only two teams to be undefeated in Super Bowls, first team to win the Super Bowl on their home field, one of only 16 teams to win more than one Super Bowl, and tied for the most division titles in the NFC South.
April 22nd, 2026 at 5:09 pm
You can play the what if game all day long with tons of what ifs. Could the Bucs win a Super Bowl with drafting Josh Allen over Vita and never getting Brady??? No one knows. Over all the Bucs probably would have won a lot more games with Allen than what we have, but not sure if the Super Bowl would have happened. It’s always fun to look back at these stories and get the actual how it happened how crazy it has turned out. Who knows if we win a Super Bowl without Suh being on the team and making sure Vea knew to eat good a stay in shape so he could be ready for the playoffs. Would we have beat Green Bay without Vea just wrecking that game. Love these types of stories Joe!! Still waiting on the Djax one on how big of turd he really was.
April 22nd, 2026 at 6:28 pm
You all can downplay the Josh Allen side of this but I would have and still to this day have taken him. We have NEVER had a franchise QB and just because Buffalo has not ( may never ) have won a superbowl doesn’t mean he couldn’t have won one or more here. Are you kidding ? Those picks vs Josh Allen, get a grip
April 22nd, 2026 at 6:35 pm
Also just remember we took OJ Howard a few picks after KC moved up to take Mahommes. At least we are not the Bengals and took John Ross? right before Mahommes… that’s still gotta hurt
April 22nd, 2026 at 6:38 pm
Maybe next time Joe has Jason on an interview he could ask him what his thoughts were about Josh Allen???
April 22nd, 2026 at 6:50 pm
If JL wants to go full no risk it no biscuit he should consider Cole Payton QB in round 4 or 5, sign Baker to a 3 year deal and develop this guy under our new HC
Zac Robinson. Watch the tape , he’s the real deal.
April 22nd, 2026 at 6:52 pm
OLDSCHOOL1976 Says:
April 22nd, 2026 at 6:28 pm
You all can downplay the Josh Allen side of this but I would have and still to this day have taken him.
————
The Bucs were never going to take Allen in that draft. This is just the classic looking back at a draft and cherry picking the best players then saying we should have done this or done that.
Going into that draft, the Bucs needs were RB, CB, DL, S, OL.
So if they didn’t just stay and draft Vita at 7, really the only other guys under consideration would have been:
Mike McGlinchey OT
Minkah Fitzpatrick S
Clearly the Bucs did the right thing, it was a move that absolutely helped the Bucs win a SB.