Never understood why teams do this.

Is it last minute? Doesn’t he have another year on his contract?

He’s not playing for free though ?

Since when do players start deciding when their contract ends? How is 1 year before their contract expires “waiting until the last minute”. He had no problem signing the contract he is currently on for X amount of years. This year is one of them. Play this year and talk later.

He’s under contract wtf are you talking about playing for free 💀

18 mil is playing for free? Give me a break 🙄

Hard to feel for someone getting paid over $17 million for a years worth of work that HE signed up for.

I understand about not waiting to the last minute, but he isn't playing for free this season. He would be making $17 million.

$0 of guaranteed money.

OR he could play out the last year of the contract that HE signed. He’s not grossly underpaid. He’s trying to force their hand into a long term deal.

He’s not playing for free, he’s about to be paid 17 million dollars to a deal HE signed!!!

He signed the fucking deal. He knows exactly what his fucking salary is. What in the ever loving fuck are you talking about,“free“. Dear Lord man, you’re smarter than this. I agree they should’ve communicated with him but also they don’t know how his 350 pound body is at 32.

I go to work and get paid my salary. I do not base my decision to work just because I don’t know what my raise is going to look like next year. Bad analogy from someone who’s clearly never worked in the real world.

Free??

He does have a guarantee of what his salary is for this season - this is a great example of the entitlement some professional athletes have. The truth is Vita Vea is no longer a cornerstone of this franchise and they Bucs are treating him exactly as they value him.

Fact is they have him 1 more year, and if he does well, they can Franchise him. Bucs are in control here. If he decides not to play/retire is his only play. I love Vita, but best he can hope for here is a restructure and pay bump with 1 year added.

The front office chose Bowles over the players. Period. And they are all frustrated with it.

And how is he working for free?

I'm always in support of players getting the max amt they can when the can. Holding out or asking for a trade is the only leverage they have. But he's not playing for free. He's playing with the uncertainty of future guaranteed money. The Nflpa agreed to these terms

For free? He's playing for 18 million under contract.

He still had this year and next year left on his contract though. He wasnt going to be playing for free. Unless, you’re speaking about guaranteed money.

2026 is his last year on his contract and $0 of it is guaranteed, my point is that a cornerstone player like this playing at a high level deserves to have guaranteed dollars and an extension. If the team is ready to move off of him they should communicate that directly.

That’s fair. Appreciate the response. I think I also misunderstood the information I saw on Over The Cap as far as remaining contract years.

The Glazers and Licht let Mike Evans leave. That tells us all that we need to know.

If they never said they value him shame on Tampa , they’re obviously not listening to the players or fans and it’s unfortunate

He didn’t showing up for free he is making 17 million dollars

He should pay the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to wear their jersey. It's privilege to work at a franchise that's won the Super Bowl twice. The only relevant football team in the NFL in the entire state of Florida of 22 million people. Tampa could do a lot more with his money. REAL

I never understood why you tried to smash that guys dick off like 10 years ago

Every server bartender goes to work everyday not knowing if they’ll make any money lol

You started off good, but he’s not working for free. I get you want guaranteed money on the last year but didn’t he accept the current structure of the contract? Very few job structures provide yearly guaranteed anything. Work out your contract and go back to the table.

He’s under contract, not playing for free, just like the rest of us you never know when it’ll be your last day, good grief the entitlement is crazy and I wonder where he got this stuff put into his head…hmmmmm

For 18 million I’ll do whatever. He getting 18 mil to play this year. Suh gonna get vita on a new team making what he already making.

Why not sign a shorter contract then? He would have been out of contract this year and negotiated with other teams this season. Players want the longest deal possible but don’t want to play to the end of the contract they agree.

“My owner said IF I WANTED TO JUST GIVE MY MONEY AWAY, I wouldn’t have you negotiating”—GM

I have zero guarantee my job wont fire me tomorrow

Seems like a reminder of control of power, bc it is in fact a bad way of doing business if you ask me 🤷🏽‍♂️

Every job is at will .. we go to work every day without guarantees lol