Buccaneers Trade Back, Pick Vita Vea in 2018 NFL Draft; Gerald McCoy Thrilled

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers added one of the marquee defensive tackles in the 2018 NFL draft to their roster by selecting Vita Vea from the University of Washington with the No. 12 overall pick on Thursday.

Originally scheduled to pick seventh, the Bucs made a deal with the Buffalo Bills to move down five spots and accrue extra picks before taking Vea in the first round. 

Considering Vea was the 2017 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, this selection turned heads on Twitter:

"

Vita Vea is HUGE. Plays big, too. A true interior anchor.

— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) April 27, 2018"

Vea tallied a career-best 43 total tackles in 2017, with 5.5 of them going for a loss. He also notched 3.5 sacks after posting 5.0 in 2016, demonstrating the defensive tackle is versatile enough to stuff running games and create havoc for quarterbacks.

His NFL.com draft profile lists him at 6'4" and 347 pounds, with NFL Media's Lance Zierlein saying Vea's "combination of size and light feet are rare. In fact, even at about 350 pounds, he was lining up as an edge-rusher at times."

That versatility should help him see the field early in his NFL career, especially since he is powerful enough to bull-rush most guards and is able to shed blockers with impressive ease.

Bleacher Report's Matt Miller pointed to Vea's ability to shed double-teams, which will help open pass-rushing lanes for his teammates because he also generates pressure:

Miller's pre-combine rankings listed Vea as the best run-stopper and the most NFL-ready of all the defensive linemen in the draft.

That type of assessment should have Tampa Bay's fanbase excited about what the future will bring since Vea already has NFL-ready size and a skill set that should only develop with more experience.

The Bucs didn't necessarily need a player like Vea with Gerald McCoy and Beau Allen already on the interior, but they found good value in the Washington standout early in the first round and pounced on it.