The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced today that the team has signed defensive tackle Vita Vea, Tampa Bay’s first-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
Vea (6-4, 347) was chosen 12th overall, out of Washington, where he played in 40 career games, totaling 100 tackles (15 for loss), 9.5 sacks, six passes defensed, two forced fumbles and two blocked kicks. In 2017, Vea won the Pac-12 Pat Tillman Defensive Player of the Year Award, as well as the Morris Trophy, given annually to the top defensive lineman in the Pac-12, as voted on by the conference’s offensive linemen.