The Tampa Bay Buccaneers suffered quite a scare when first-round defensive tackle Vita Vea had to leave practice early on a cart after suffering a leg injury. However, it doesn’t appear to be as serious as initially feared.

Per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Vita is believed to have suffered a mere calf strain, although he is undergoing further tests to make sure.

The Bucs drafted 347-pound Vea with the 12th overall pick in the draft. The University of Washington product racked up 123 tackles (15.0 for loss) and 9.5 sacks in 37 career college games. He also won the 2017 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award.

Vea is one of the team’s many offseason additions to the defensive line following a rough year last season. They also added Jason Pierre-Paul, Vinny Curry, Beau Allen, and Mitch Unrein.

Article Continues Below

The rookie expected to start next to Gerald McCoy on the Buccaneers’ defensive line and improve the team’s defense against the run this year.

Bucs defensive coordinator Mike Smith has been impressed with the rookie’s performances early on in camp.

“He's doing very good,” Smith said. “He's a big strong anchor point and he can rush the passer. So we're excited. It's early. We've got to just keep tugging along and find out the right (defensive line) mix.”

Hopefully, Vea’s calf injury doesn’t inhibit him from missing much practice time as training camp moves forward. Given the important role he's set to play on the team this year, they'll need him to be as ready as possible for the start of the season.