Tristan Wirfs Has Biggest Impact
May 31st, 2022
All-Pro right tackle Tristan Wirfs.
This is saying quite a bit.
Larry Holder of The Athletic recently had a piece examining how more and more rookies make immediate impacts.
This also seems to be the time of the year when folks are going back to study past drafts. Holder said that probably no rookie in 2020 had a bigger influence than did Bucs right tackle Tristan Wirfs.
That is some kind of a statement when you factor in Justin Herbert, Chase Young, Justin Jefferson and Jonathan Taylor were in the same draft class, among others.
Here is what likely pushed Wirfs to the top of Holder’s heap: Wirfs was dominant from opening day until the final snap of the season, a full 20 games. And we know how that final snap turned out: Wirfs and the Bucs won a Super Bowl.
For Joe, that’s impact!
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May 31st, 2022 at 6:30 am
That’s nice what about his ankle?
May 31st, 2022 at 7:03 am
Wirfs is our best tackle since Gruber both great players!
May 31st, 2022 at 7:15 am
So cool how JL picked Wirf’s after some of the other more hyped tackles and he turns out to be the best of the bunch.
May 31st, 2022 at 7:27 am
Hard to surpass that record. Played as a starter his rookie year. No injuries. Did not miss a game. One (?) sack allowed. Won the SB. Is there anyone else that has ever done that?
May 31st, 2022 at 7:28 am
Oh yeah, and he can jump out of 3 ft of water in a pool and land flat footed on the deck.
May 31st, 2022 at 8:05 am
I love Jason Licht, and the job he is doing, but let’s be honest, Tristan Wirfs fell to us, and it was a no brainer to take him.
I remember watching that Draft in disbelief as he started falling down the board.
May 31st, 2022 at 8:38 am
Wirfs didn’t fall to us….we had to trade up to get him……no one knows what would have happened if we didn’t.
May 31st, 2022 at 8:47 am
Suh.
May 31st, 2022 at 10:50 am
I remember some on site suggesting we should have traded back and picked either USC’s Austin Jackson or Georgia’s Isiah Wilson.
Sean Sullivan was a big Isiah Wilson fan.
Whether Wirfs fell to us and we were lucky or Licht was smart to move up to make sure that Miami (at 19) did not trade in front of us, it turned out to be the correct move for our team for sure.
I for one will give Licht credit.
May 31st, 2022 at 10:58 am
Don’t misunderstand me… Wirfs is a top shelf LT right now, but it’s a little too early to compare his 2 years & 37 starts to Paul Gruber’s 12 years & 183 starts.
…like eight or nine years too early…
As to the above debate on whether Wirfs fell to the Bucs or whatever… that depends on how you think about what happened. Yes, he fell from where he was expected to be drafted. Yes, the Bucs traded up to get him. Both can be true at once. Did he fall all the way to the Bucs at the Bucs original spot at #14? No. San Francisco going to take him at #13? Probably not. John Lynch likely had no intention of drafting Wirfs, knew that Jason Licht wanted him, and drafted one spot higher in order to bluff Licht into giving him some extra draft capital.
That’s less the Bucs trading up to get him and more John Lynch pulling a boss “Draft Day”-style trade with a poker face to match none other in order to get one over on his former team. I’d call that one of the few mistakes Licht has made on draft day, even if it worked out in the end.
May 31st, 2022 at 12:47 pm
@Wirfs is no Gruber.
Just to be clear Miami did take Austin Jackson at #19.
A much worse prospect than Wirfs in most evaluator’s opinions.
Now whether it true or not, Miami giving up #19 pick and a possible 3rd round pick if they evaluated Wirfs better than Austin Jackson is not a reach. In fact, it would fit the typical draft value chart of the NFL. Further, Miami came into that draft with 14 picks and you knew they were not going to try to keep and play 14 rookies.
Maybe San Fran would not have done the trade in any case, but sometimes better safe than sorry makes sense to me. In this case, history has clearly proven that to be a case of better safe than sorry.
Your no risk it style might have worked. It could have also led us to drafting either Isiah Wilson or Austin Jackson or not even getting a right tackle of any skill. Therefore, leaving the Bucs as an also ran with no Super Bowl.
Kudo’s to Licht for doing the better safe than sorry. It worked in 2020.
May 31st, 2022 at 1:47 pm
I was going through Buc video history last night when it occurred to me. Every time we’ve played them in the playoffs (79, 99, 21/22) we’ve been missing our best offensive tackle.
Charley Hannah in 79
Paul Grindr in 99
Wirfs in 21/22
Each time, I believe having those guys heathy would Have changed history. Bucs win each of those games .
Next time let’s have healthy OTs Bucs!
May 31st, 2022 at 1:47 pm
*Gruber
May 31st, 2022 at 2:14 pm
Goatfarmer with the auto-correct to “Grindr” lol
May 31st, 2022 at 3:05 pm
No one is doing it better than Licht has the last few years. I b!tch about desperately needing another good outside corner (we do), but he’s been golden outside of drafting running backs (White is new, so doesn’t count) and ignoring outside corner.
May 31st, 2022 at 11:09 pm
And I meant every time we play the Rams in the playoffs we’ve been down our best OT.