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ESPN’s Jenna Laine has reported that Bucs defensive tackle Vita Vea will have an MRI on his injured left knee. That sounds right as typically players wait 24-48 hours for any swelling to go down for an MRI test.
A source tells me Vita Vea will be getting an MRI on his knee Friday… https://t.co/JNKYuVxYxL
— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) August 7, 2019
PewterReport.com is working to confirm the timetable, and spoke with a source last night that shared that the team is concerned over the injury yet hopeful it is not too serious. Vea injured his knee shortly after the start of practice when he was doing a 1-on-1 pass rush drill against guard Alex Cappa. Vea, who was Tampa Bay’s first-round pick in 2018, appeared to have stepped awkwardly during the drill and then went down and clutched his left knee.
“No, I haven’t seen him since [he left the field] so, I don’t know,” Bucs head coach Bruce Arians told the media Tuesday evening. “We’ll check on it and see what the report is tonight. … I have no idea [what the injury is]. I just know I saw him walking in, and he looked fine.
“I’ll feel better when I know what’s wrong with Vita.”
Here is the video from PewterReport.com media partner WDAE 95.3 FM‘s Len Martez, who had a close up of the injury during the 1-on-1s.
Here is 1 on 1 drill where #GoBucs DL @VitaVea came up slow holding his left knee on Tues
No word yet on if its serious #NFL #NFLTrainingCamp pic.twitter.com/3iesuKiuHl
— len martez (@LMart810) August 6, 2019
Vea did walk off the field under his own power, which can be viewed as a positive sign. Yet Golden State star Klay Thompson returned to the NBA Finals game and was able to walk after tearing his ACL during Game 6, so being able to walk is not necessarily a sign that a player didn’t tear his ACL.
A PCL (posterior cruciate ligament) injury typically takes 2-8 weeks to recover from, while an MCL (medial collateral ligament) sprain is typically a 4-8 week injury, where the more serious ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury typically has an 8-12 month recovery timetable depending on the severity.
Unless his MRI comes back negative, it appears as if Vea will at least miss the preseason due to his knee injury.
