When Buccaneers first-round pick Vita Vea got hurt in late July, head coach Dirk Koetter said the injury wasn’t as bad as the team initially thought.
It still cost the defensive tackle the entire preseason, however, and it doesn’t look like he’s going to make it back for the first game of the regular season. Koetter updated Vea’s status on Monday and said any improvement to the calf has not been enough for Vea to resume football work.
“He’s working a lot behind the scenes...he is making progress but he’s just not ready to play on the field, yet,” Koetter said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times.
The Buccaneers placed Mitch Unrein on injured reserve Monday, which leaves them with eight healthy defensive linemen on the 53-man roster heading into Sunday’s game against the Saints.
