What It Takes To Play In NFL
November 18th, 2020
Lesson learned in camp.
What a great story from a guy who may go down as one of the best rookies in Bucs history.
People always like to use flowery rhetoric about leaders. It is so, so, so overblown it goes in one ear and out the other for Joe. Just friggin’ win games and tell Joe later about how a punter displayed leadership and taught a linebacker how to wipe his rear end properly.
Give Joe 22 dudes who produce and they will knock the snot out of 22 guys who gloss themselves as leaders.
The following, however, is an exception.
Bucs star rookie right tackle Tristan Wirfs first met Bucs reserve offensive lineman A.Q. Shipley late in training cam. Wirfs thought the way Shipley was grinding through broiling hot training camp practices was nuts. That was, before Shipley told Wirfs a story.
“This is a little story I thought it was kind of funny,” Wirfs began when he spoke this week to the local pen and mic club. Shipley “came in in the middle of camp and just grinded through the practice. It didn’t look like he was tired at all.
“I’m like, ‘It’s 100 degrees out here and A.Q. is just chugging along.’ I asked him about it the other day and he said he was gassed. It’s just his mentality and the way he goes about stuff – he just gets his work done. A.Q. is pretty awesome.”
That is probably just one example why Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians was geeked to get Shipley signed.
You don’t think Shipley made an impression on Wirfs? Yeah, it gets hot as hell in the summer in Iowa, too. Florida hot. Here Wirfs was in his first NFL training camp and he’s feeling it, then he looks over and sees an old vet like Shipley who just puts his head down and grinds through practice as if it’s 60 degrees.
That made an impression. No matter how much you are sucking air in practice and hating life banging heads in the middle of a Florida summer day, a pro must practice right in order to perform on Sundays when it’s just a little bit cooler.
November 18th, 2020 at 8:53 am
No question all the mentoring helps. D. Smith is the bottom of the starting left tackle heap out there, but he’s a starting left tackle for now and I’m glad he opted to play. But I think it’s already a serious conversation with the coaching staff and GM to move Wirfs to the left side by early next year.
November 18th, 2020 at 8:59 am
You still don’t value leadership, even after what you’ve seen with the addition of Brady and the exit of McCoy? Ridiculous.
Cool story though.
November 18th, 2020 at 9:01 am
Agreed, Roy T. Buford. Wirfs has the talent to be a top 5 Left Tackle in the NFL, IMHO.
November 18th, 2020 at 9:32 am
i really like wirfs at RT….
either way we need to draft a tackle early this year….d.smith is trash….
i just hope the staff knows he can play LT before moving him there IF they decide to move him….
GO BUCS!!!!
November 18th, 2020 at 9:56 am
There’s going to be a buyer’s market for players in free agency. Lots of guys are going to be cut come March. A lot!
November 18th, 2020 at 10:06 am
Wirfs is only 21 years old. He might be the youngest player on our team.
I suppose he will end up on the left side eventually. Think about how many pro bowls and all pro years he can have.
Go Bucs!
November 18th, 2020 at 10:07 am
Always good to have true professionals on the team that the young guys can look to and learn from.
November 18th, 2020 at 10:47 am
Everyone keeps talking about the salary cap falling, but ive read several articles saying they will probably find a way to keep the cap the same and make up the difference in revenue over the next however many years. I seriously doubt the nfl and all the owners are just going to go “whelp we can’t afford our star player(s) we worked on developing for 4 years now so see ya later!”
You lose some of your salary one year and you have a couple cars you will no longer be able to afford the payments on. You know your cut in salary is TEMPORARY, and you have the credit built up to take a loan that you can pay over the next few years. You going to just say ahh eff it just repo the car and screw all the money i sunk into it, when you can definitely find a way to keep it?
November 18th, 2020 at 11:06 am
Sure would like to read these articles. The people who have direct cell phone numbers of D. Smith and Roger Goodell have far different information.
Joe has read *speculation* that could happen as this as that is what took place during the lockout 10 years ago. Joe has read nothing that this option is likely much less will happen. Possibility? Yes, it is possible (in the sense it is not impossible). Probability? Not likely. Problem is, owners tool a major hit doing so a decade ago and from those who have direct access to heavy hitters in the NFL, owners are resistant to revisit that option again.
November 18th, 2020 at 11:13 am
What will be more palatable for owners; sacrificing a % of profits to maintain a semblance of status quo, or numerous teams orchestrating personnel exodus to conform to a diminished salary cap?
Also, what player in their right minds will sign a multi year deal at 60-80% of their worth? There will be a ton of 1 year deals this offseason and maybe for a few years to come.
To me, it’s a logical outcome that something needs to be renegotiated here due to an artificial dip in revenue. I recognize this is still in the speculation stage, but there is too much downside for all parties for there to not eventually be fire to this smoke.
November 18th, 2020 at 11:39 am
Whirfs micd up vs Carolina is priceless
November 18th, 2020 at 1:03 pm
Cool story.
November 19th, 2020 at 10:59 am
we hit the jackpot with both Wirfs & the elimination of NDOG/REALIST/TMAX from this site.
November 19th, 2020 at 11:07 am
QUESTION…
Where are all the CRY BABIES on this site that were so worked up over Licht giving up that 4th rounder to move up the one spot with the 49ers to make sure we got Wirfs?
Those people were so convinced that Lynch was robbing us! Most 4th rounders don’t pan out at a high rate.
In hindsight, it’s looking like the deal of the century for the Bucs. That we gave up a mid-round pick to be able to get a top OL prospect that we desperately needed and just happens to be developing into the best OL prospect of that entire draft (so far).
There was a very good chance the Bucs weren’t going to be in position to get ANY of those top OL prospects that draft — which is why he had tried to trade up higher (and give up a lot more) to try and go get one of those guys.