There has been a lot of time spent focusing on the defense of the Bucs heading into free agency and the 2025 NFL Draft. Most of these conversations have been centered around fixing Tampa Bay’s issues that they have at outside linebacker, inside linebacker, cornerback and potentially safety.

Bucs DT Vita Vea and the defense – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

What we haven’t heard of as much is defensive tackle because the Bucs have a great group with Vita Vea, Calijah Kancey and Logan Hall as their top three at the position heading into the upcoming season.

Let’s remember, though, that in today’s NFL the defensive lineman are rotated in and out more than ever. Don’t be shocked if the Bucs go with a defensive tackle at some point this year’s draft.

Eventually they will have to replenish the room since Vea can’t play at a high level forever and Kancey has had some injury problems to begin each of his first two seasons in Tampa Bay. Hall is also entering a contract year. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to get ahead of down-the-road departures at this position in the draft.

Bucs Can Upgrade Back End Of DT Rotation

Vita Vea played 63% of the snaps during the 2024 season. Calijah Kancey and Logan Hall were at just 48%. Other roles were filled by the likes of Greg Gaines, Will Gholston, Mike Greene and C.J. Brewer. The Bucs aren’t looking to replace their top three players at defensive tackle. What they want to do is raise the competition for those last couple spots, especially with Greene on a futures contracts and Brewer as an exclusive rights free agent. Gaines and Gholston are each free agents this offseason, and Gholston, who turns 33 this summer, could retire.

Utah DT Junior Tafuna – Photo by: USA Today

The Bucs met with four defensive tackles for formal interviews at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine. That’s the same amount of formal interviews they had with players at safety, another position they’ll likely add too this offseason. While the odds of taking a defensive tackle in the first round would be surprising, Tampa Bay certainly wants to upgrade in every area, so bringing in a rookie defensive tackle later on in the draft, shouldn’t be ruled out.

The defensive tackles who had a formal meeting with Tampa were Toledo’s Darius Alexander, South Carolina’s Tonka Hemmingway, Clemson’s Payton Page and Utah’s Junior Tafuna. Alexander is considered to be a first-round prospect.

Tafuna gave some insight on what it was like talking with the Bucs in his meeting.

“Tampa was actually my first formal I had this week,” Tafuna said. “To be honest, it’s all about being yourself and you never know how it is once it goes. I felt like we had a great time. They pulled up some film of me getting my hand swiped down, I hit the turf. I answered, I said ‘Hey man, that’s my first turf burner of the season, that’s what that play was right there.'”

Draft Prospect Looks Up To Vita Vea

Arkansas DT Eric Gregory – Photo by USA Today

Tampa Bay also had three informal meetings with defensive tackles, including Arkansas defensive tackle Eric Gregory. When asking Gregory about the Bucs, the conversation naturally shifted to Vita Vea and what makes him a fantastic player.

Gregory explained that everybody realizes his size, but the speed element of his game makes all the difference when he’s on for each snap of the game.

“Vita Vea is one of the guys I actually look up to,” Gregory said. “It’d be huge to play with him for sure. The defense in general, they got a great defense over there, a great coaching staff. It’d be huge.

“Not just how big he is, but how mobile he is. When you look at a guy like that you wouldn’t expect him to be as mobile as he is. I’m not that big, but I kind of get it. People think I’m not really that mobile and I got a little more twitch to me than people think, so his size and his strength, it sticks out for sure. He’s bull rushing guys five to seven yards into the QB, you do that in the league and you’re great.”