The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have a big piece of their defensive interior available to play Sunday.
Good Morning Football's Peter Schrager reported Friday that the Bucs will officially activate Vita Vea off injured reserve, per a source informed of the decision. The team later announced the activation.
The activation means Vea will be eligible to play in Sunday's NFC Championship Game against the Green Bay Packers.
Vea went down in Week 5 due to a fractured ankle. The big DT was in line for a career year before the injury.
The 25-year-old returned to practice this week. Prior to the news, coach Bruce Arians noted that Vea was looking good in practice.
"He's looked real good," Arians said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. "He's been running around for almost three weeks and had a real good practice yesterday and a good one today. So we haven't made that determination yet but we'll see if we want to activate him or not but there is a chance."
Vea potentially being in the lineup Sunday could be massive for the Bucs. Aaron Jones and the Packers' offense have gashed teams, and Aaron Rodgers has taken advantage on play-action. If Vea is back plugging the middle, Tampa linebackers Devin White and Lavonte David won't have to sell so hard versus the run and open up play-action shots.
