Chicago Bears: Trade price for Vita Vea revealed

The Chicago Bears enter training camp this month knowing they need better production out of their defensive line for the upcoming season after failing to generate a consistent pass rush during the 2025 campaign.

The Bears were finished with 35 sacks last season, well in the bottom half of the league. Chicago chose not to add significant help at defensive end or defensive tackle this offseason, and second-year head coach Ben Johnson believes coaching can better help the defensive line get after the quarterback.

Still, the Bears should look for options before the regular season to boost their chances of making a deep playoff push this season while quarterback Caleb Williams is under a rookie contract.

On Monday, Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Vita Vea requested a trade after negotiations for a new deal went nowhere. The two-time Pro Bowl DT is set to make $18 million on his current deal.

During an appearance on “NFL on ESPN” on Monday, Benjamin Sloak suggested the Buccaneers could ask for a second and fifth-round pick for Vea.

“If I were Vita Vea and I was one of the two best nose tackles in football,” Sloak said, “and the other guy, Dexter Lawrence, got traded (from the Giants to the Bengals) for the 10th overall pick like three months ago, I also would be saying, “Hey, now, I think I’m pretty valuable here in the league.” There’s only two guys… who are significant pass rush threats from the nose tackle. It’s Lawrence and it’s Vea.

“The issue for Vea is he’s three years older. He is 31 years old. Lawrence was 28, already kind of pushing his prime. Vea is certainly past his, and so I texted an executive right when this news broke. I said, “If you were building a trade package for Vea, what would you do?” He said, “I don’t know, like a second and a fifth, but it’s going to be hard because that Lawrence package really sets the floor for Vea’s trade value.’”

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Would the Chicago Bears trade for Vita Vea?

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Vea, 31, has recorded 35 sacks since the Buccaneers selected him in the first round of the 2018 draft. He won Super Bowl LV with Tampa Bay. He’s played in 112 games and started in 107 games, recording 256 tackles and 35 sacks.

Per Over the Cap, the Bears have $8.1 million in cap space before the upcoming season, nearly $200,000 less than Tampa Bay. Chicago has just over $8 million in camp for 2027, and must factor in potential contract extensions for Darnell Wright, Rome Odunze and Williams.

Would trading for Vea be worth it for the Bears? He’s an aging defensive lineman, but he did produce seven sacks in 2024. Given Grady Jarrett’s and Gervon Dexter’s issues last season, it might be worth it if the Bears plan to go all-in for this season, but his price would be expensive after the prime of his career come 2027 and beyond.

A second and firth round pick wouldn’t be cheap, and would have made more sense for the Bears to have used that trade capital to move up on a young pass-rusher during a draft.

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