FAB 3. Vea Returns From Calf Injury

On Thursday, Tampa Bay defensive tackle Vita Vea, the team’s first-round pick, returned to the practice field at the Bucs’ AdventHealth Training Center. The last time we saw Vea in full pads was the very first day of full pads in training camp, which was July 29.

Vea has been out of action for 53 days – over seven weeks – recovering from a bad calf strain. The Bucs didn’t provide any timetable for his return, which left the media and fans to wonder how long the big, 6-foot-4, 340-pound defensive tackle would be out of commission.

On Thursday I consulted Dr. Tommy Lane of Lane Family Wellness, one of PewterReport.com’s Tampa Bay’s Injury Report sponsors, to get his thoughts on Vea’s calf injury. While Lane didn’t treat Vea’s calf strain, he is very familiar with that type of injury.

“A strain is usually a tear, and muscles tears – if you are not doing anything – can take four to six weeks to recover from,” Dr. Lane said. “Just in general – and not being a professional athlete who is 340 pounds – it’s going to take at least four to six weeks to recover.”

The fact that Vea’s torn calf took longer to heal didn’t surprise Dr. Lane, especially considering the position he plays.

“Calf injuries are tough because you are talking about explosive muscles,” Dr. Lane said. “You’re talking about big people, especially offensive or defensive linemen, that have to explode off the ball and push off with their legs. Their calves are the main muscle group that does that. Then you engage the quads and the hamstrings and all of the rest of the muscle group, but with that calf, you’re going to have that calf muscle go into a ball and the muscle fibers are going to fire, and if it fires incorrectly it’s going to start spasming and you’re going to go down. That’s when you start having problems. The muscle tissue starts tearing away and that’s when you start having recurring injuries because the blood flow is not the same when you have a torn muscle and not a muscle that is normal.”

Dr. Lane detailed the typical recovery from a torn calf muscle.

“Most of the time you can do ultrasound, which is a penetrating sound wave therapy that can break up scar tissue and increase circulation,” Dr. Lane said. “You can do hot and cold presses and massage therapy – a lot of things you and I can do, he has probably also done. There is also laser now – there are all sorts of things that the team can do to accelerate the healing process, stabilize the injury and then strengthen it. That’s always the process, I don’t care if you are Vita Vea or if you’re Dr. Tommy Lane or anybody.

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

“Six weeks is a very normal timetable, especially for a calf injury for a normal person – a non-athlete. It’s longer with professional athletes due to what they are asked to do. You have two muscles – you have the gastroc and the soleus. Those two need to work in conjunction, and if they’re not it can cause Achilles injuries or knee injuries – you are talking about the whole chain we learned about while growing up as kids – the ankle bone is connected to the shin bone, and the shin bone is connected to the leg bone, and on and on.”

Vea was limited in practice on Thursday, but if he participates fully in practice by Saturday I think it’s very likely that he could be active and see his first NFL action on Monday Night Football against Pittsburgh. The Bucs desperately need help in the interior of the defensive line where six-time Pro Bowler Gerald McCoy has played over 80 percent of the snaps on defensive in the first two games and the team would like to see him play closer to 65-70 percent of the time at age 30 so he can hold up over an entire season.

That’s where Vea, the team’s reserve three-technique defensive tackle, comes in. If he can spell McCoy and play just 12-15 snaps as he gets his feet wet playing in the NFL for the first time after missing the entire preseason, Vea will serve a valuable purpose initially. Ideally, the Bucs would like Vea to get to a point where he and McCoy could split the three-tech reps 60-40 in games with the rookie getting up to playing 40 percent of the downs as McCoy’s understudy and eventual successor.

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

Tampa Bay has been very cautious with Vea’s injury to hopefully eliminate a reoccurrence, but the team is anxious to see its first-rounder see the field and get some much-needed experience. Unless Vea’s calf doesn’t respond favorably to back-to-back practices on Thursday and Friday I think he suits up against Pittsburgh on Monday Night Football, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets a sack in his Buccaneers debut, as I predicted he would on this week’s Pewter Nation Podcast.