Vita Vea Undergoes Surgery for Hand Injury

Tampa Bay's dominant nose tackle could miss part of training camp recovering from the procedure.

Earlier this week, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a key member of their defensive front undergo surgery, as outside linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul had a procedure done on his knee.

It appears he's not the only member of that unit going under the knife.

Defensive tackle Vita Vea also had surgery this week, undergoing a minor procedure to repair a hand injury, per multiple reports:

#Bucs DT Vita Vea suffered an unspecified hand injury and underwent a minor surgical procedure a few weeks ago. He may miss some time early in camp but will not have any limitations once the regular season begins.

— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) June 27, 2020

Bucs defensive tackle Vita Vea underwent a minor hand procedure, a source told ⁦@AdamSchefter⁩ https://t.co/iU3k9TrsgX

— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) June 27, 2020

The No. 12 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, Vea has quickly established himself as one of the league's most dominant and disruptive interior defenders. He's primed for a breakout season in 2020, anchoring one of the most promising defenses in the entire NFL, a unit that was a top-five group in the league over the last six weeks of the 2019 season.

As Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times notes, Vea could miss the beginning of training camp, assuming camps aren't delayed any further due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even if he misses valuable prep time in training camp, don't be surprised if Vea has the best season of his career in 2020, surrounded by a talented group at every level.