Defensive Front Has “Attitude” And “A Lot Of Fire” Without Vita Vea
August 6th, 2026
“Greeny, we know how prepared we are.”
Interesting window into the psyche of the Bucs’ front office.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht wants to keep Vita Vea, despite him asking for a trade. What GM wouldn’t want Vea?
But the Bucs have a solid defensive front without Vea, assuming the annual injury bug doesn’t infest the unit.
Licht admitted today that when he watches the defensive front in practice every day, and later with his scouts, they are happy and hungry to see more.
“It’s one thing that we look forward to most is watching the defense, especially that [defensive] front right now how we feel like we’ve got attitude; we feel like we got a lot of fire,” Licht said. “And it’s one of the things that Todd and I talked about in the offseaso: wanting to add to this team. And we feel like we did [add] right now.”
Imagine that. Licht and his team are loving their defensive front — without Vea.
Joe is not wishing Vea away. Banking on Calijah Kancey to stay healthy, as well as young players, is a very risky proposition.
August 6th, 2026 at 1:46 pm
Licht seems to me to be using a lot of superlatives (exaggerating?) lately. Everything is “best ever” or similar. Is he that enthusiastic about the season or just blowing smoke?
August 6th, 2026 at 1:56 pm
News flash he loves the team at the start of every season lol
August 6th, 2026 at 1:58 pm
Licht will get hosed in the trade. The Bucs will have injuries on DL. And everyone will still call Licht a HOF GM.
What a joke.
Licht completely unraveled 2026 with his smart guy moves that have backfired tremendously.
Maybe believe your players next time, Licht.
August 6th, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Wow, attitude and fire! I’ll go with teams that have Big Time Talent and desire.
August 6th, 2026 at 2:05 pm
A’Shawn Robinson season!
August 6th, 2026 at 2:05 pm
more pollyanna from licht
August 6th, 2026 at 2:20 pm
Bwaaaahahaha!
August 6th, 2026 at 2:20 pm
Contract positioning? Time will tell!
August 6th, 2026 at 2:22 pm
IOW he gone.
August 6th, 2026 at 2:41 pm
Chicks have Jalon Walker,,,,Panters Monroe Freeling…Saints Jordyn Tyson….All are going to take it to SB according to the fan blogs.
August 6th, 2026 at 2:44 pm
Jeebs the Honey Bear … Robinson reminds me a lot of Suh while he was here. He brings that ‘nastiness’ to the DLine interior that sets the tone for the rest of the defense. I’m also glad that Nacho is back; he’s no spring chicken either, but he plays with passion, and that’s also infectious.
The big questions now (beyond what Vea does) relate to Kancey staying healthy & how well the ‘youngsters’ (Capehart & Roberts) do. Calijah really needs to stay healthy this year so he can show the world what he’s really got. Elijah Roberts had a nice rookie season as a 5th Rounder (2 sacks, 5 QB hits, 2 TFL) playing a tad over 500 def snaps (a lot for a rookie?). I’m hoping that he’s added a bit more muscle this off-season (to top 300 lbs) and can do even better this season.
Demonte Capehart is the biggest question mark IMO. He’s got the size (6’5″ & 315 lbs) but I’m still not sure what to really expect out of yet another 5th Rounder (other teams usually pass on guys for a reason). From what I can see, he only had 3 sacks in SIX years in college; that doesn’t encourage me to think that he’ll turn out to be another Warren Sapp or Ndamukong Suh. And yet, you never know until the guy gets put into the fire & has to fight to make it. Only time will tell I guess.
August 6th, 2026 at 3:03 pm
I’ve been to two practices, so not much of a sample size, but today Capehart totally blew up a run play in the backfield. One play isn’t much impact, so let’s see…
August 6th, 2026 at 3:05 pm
Lmao! They’re trying to soft launch the hold out. 🤣
Enjoy the suck this season. Brighter days are ahead when Licht, Bowles and Baker are gone.
August 6th, 2026 at 3:42 pm
I see the glass half empty crowd is out today
August 6th, 2026 at 3:55 pm
Suck,suck suck= Edgy Analysis!
August 6th, 2026 at 3:58 pm
Even w/o Vea, I think the Dline and OLBs are going to be a lot better. My thought is that if the Bucs can have a 15th ranked defense including pass coverage, this team can go far into the playoffs.
Offense is going to carry this team and I think all the pieces, including our OC, are going to be so much better than last year. This defense just needs to stop doing stupid stuff on third downs. Finally, our DC has to get his head out of his azz.
August 6th, 2026 at 4:02 pm
Buc4evr
Without Vita, who will draw double teams to help the outside pass rushers?
August 6th, 2026 at 5:42 pm
I tried pointing this out in an earlier thread but nobody challenged it – that the Bucs did just fine in 2020 when Vea missed 11 regular season games and two playoff games enroute to winning the Superbowl.
Lets try it another way … the Bucs record since Vea joined the team in 2018 is 71-62 (winning 53% of their games). Their record when Vita Vea has missed games during that same time period due to injury is 11-8 (a 58% winning record).
Again, I’m not saying Vea isn’t valuable and that I don’t like him. History shows that he isn’t the vital cog so many people seem to think he is, though.