Tristan Wirfs No. 32
June 19th, 2022
All-Pro tackle Tristan Wirfs.
Simply put, this is Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht’s home run of home runs.
The way right tackle Tristan Wirfs has begun his career, and at the risk of premature hyperbole, Joe may some day speak Wirfs’ name in hushed tones the same way the names of Lee Roy Selmon, Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks are mentioned.
And to the best of Joe’s knowledge Selmon, Sapp or Brooks never carried around trees.
It is almost scary good how talented the Iowa giant is. Run block, pass block, it doesn’t matter, Wirfs simply smothers and buries defenders. We saw again how important he was to the offensive line last season in the playoffs.
With Wirfs missing the Rams game because of a messed-up ankle, it was like one man falling down on a team involved in a tug-of-war. Wirfs went down and like dominos the offensive line crumbled for possibly the first time since Tom Brady arrived on the scene.
That was the first time Wirfs missed a start. Coincidence?
Wirfs has played so damn well in his first two years, that prickly Pete Prisco of CBS Sports at No. 32 in his top-100 players list for 2022 ranked Wirfs
He might be the best right tackle in the league, which is impressive since he’s entering his third season. He is outstanding in pass protection and should get better as he matures.
You know what is sort of the icing on the cake for Joe? Wirfs may be the coolest guy on the Bucs roster. He has every reason to big league people and he is just the opposite.
So how important is Wirfs to Brady? When Wirfs said publicly he didn’t have Brady’s cell phone number, in about two hours Brady made sure Wirfs had it announced the fact to the social media world.
June 19th, 2022 at 12:07 am
With all these great draft picks it’s going to be hard to keep all of them. Especially if we pay for a high price QB after this year when Brady retires. It is pretty dang cool that the Bucs have hit on so many good players in the draft the last so many years, since we haven’t seen it since the glory days. Plus, it also helps to have a killer coaching staff getting everything out of the players and max effort.
June 19th, 2022 at 12:46 am
I don’t know why losing Wirfs for the Rams game caused Donovan Smith to suck. They are on opposite ends of the line. It’s not like they play next to each other. I thought Wells played better on one leg than Smith did. He was an absolute turnstile. He could get a job at Disney when he gives up football. He wasn’t even giving maximum effort. I have rewatched the game twice recently and it made me very angry to watch his pathetic performance. Donny must redeem himself this year or he will be remembered as the weakest link in our quest for a repeat. Oh and Wirfs RULES!! Best pick ever
June 19th, 2022 at 1:02 am
If memory serves me correct. Mike Evans is also a Licht draft pick(I believe his first pick as Bucs GM). I think his grand slam was the fleecing of the Giants for JPP. Possibly the fleecing of Grumpy Bill for Shaq Mason. But yes Wirfs is a STUD. Just ask Cam Jordan. And ask Ramsey about Evans. :p
June 19th, 2022 at 2:11 am
Turnstile..ROFL!! 😀
June 19th, 2022 at 6:50 am
Miller5252 … ‘With all these great draft picks it’s going to be hard to keep all of them. Especially if we pay for a high price QB after this year when Brady retires’.
Great observations and I agree with you, yet it’s still hard to know what the future holds for the Bucs (kinda like predicting what today’s housing market will look like a year or 2 from now?). For the time being, we’ve been blessed with some great draft picks like Wirfs, White & Winfield who’ll all be due for some big ‘promotions’ when their time comes. What that portends for some others like Dean, SMB or Edwards who’ve all contributed a lot in their rookie contracts is anyone’s guess because they’ll all want to be paid too.
Your comment about paying for a high-priced QB when Brady retires is the key IMO. The Bucs have a bunch of high-priced veterans, BUT … Tom Brady’s contracts have been a lot more ‘team-friendly’ than many other QBs. That’s been huge, PLUS signing some other high-quality vets to team-friendly contracts, PLUS drafting very well over these past 3-4 years, AND manipulating the salary CAP to slide many salary costs to the future years have together allowed us to accumulate a LOT of talent for these past 3 years.
Can we keep that talent level high? I think it’ll be a struggle because of past decisions (we’re starting in a ‘salary CAP hole’ in 2023 & beyond because of kicking the salary-CAP-can down the street for these past few years). Our choice will be to either do a ‘soft landing’ by continuing this approach for several years OR bite the bullet for a year or 2 by releasing a lot of high-priced vets and resetting in the process. Personally I favor the ‘soft landing’ but that requires a lot of things to go right for a number of years (continued great drafting, continued excellent player development, staying away from excessively huge contracts, etc). Whether we can pull that off AND remain competitive year-after-year is anyone’s guess at this point.
June 19th, 2022 at 7:11 am
nice…
but if you put him in the high teens, he would sit as well there as at #32
June 19th, 2022 at 7:12 am
And to the best of Joe’s knowledge Selmon, Sapp or Brooks never carried around trees.
Or jumped out of pools…..
The key to our future AB (after Brady, not Antonio Brown) is Kyle Trask’s ability.
If he can take the reins….then’ we’ll be able to keep some high priced draft picks.
June 19th, 2022 at 7:16 am
once brady’s gone, donnie’s gone too…probably…
ali’s already out of here…and they won’t mess with brady’s steady LT for now…
also they could trade jensen if brady’s gone next year, and toss in a young gun at center…
June 19th, 2022 at 8:15 am
@Bucco:
Isn’t it obvious why Donovan stank that day?
How many LTs can block Von Miller all night, without help?
Had @TW78 been healthy, Gronk would have been helping out on the left side, instead of the right side, helping out Wells.
Curse the NFL for making the second seeds line up on wild-card weekend to play a seventh seed who probably does not belong in the playoffs. (Yeah, Indy gave Buffalo a game in ’20. One out of four.) For two lousy games of ad receipts?
I have been wanting to let loose with that rant ever since January.
June 19th, 2022 at 8:59 am
^^^^^^
#excusesfordonnie
June 19th, 2022 at 9:12 am
Wirfs was the last of the big 4 tackles from that draft, and is the best by far
June 19th, 2022 at 9:37 am
Spot on Beeej! Best by far….top 2or3 in league…I shade JL..so here , got to give him❤️✌🏽🤟🏽✊🏾
June 19th, 2022 at 10:05 am
Beeej, I beg to differ. Andrew Thomas is pretty damn good with less help than Wirfs, actually plays LT, and may be as good if not better pass blocker at a higher value position. I’m not sure if Wirfs was at LT, he would post a better grades than Thomas. He sucked as a rookie but last year, he was really really good.
June 19th, 2022 at 12:47 pm
Just a note on the salary cap. It is projected to be around 230 million for 2023 with it increasing 20 million a year for the foreseeable future. The Bucs will make it work. That’s almost 22 million more next year.
June 19th, 2022 at 6:02 pm
To follow up Beeej’s comment, Wirf “fell” to us in the draft…the last of the 4 top tackles remaining ….for a team looking to draft a tackle. No other option at that pick. A great pick….but a no-brainer.
The truly GREAT pick made in that draft was Winfield, Jr.when there were so many options available….not sure how many teams would have made that pick at that point in time.
Just my 2-cents worth.
June 19th, 2022 at 9:56 pm
Man it’s pathetic how some so-called Buc fans constantly trash Donovan Smith. Calling him a “turnstile”… Really? Two plays. That was it, two plays and one of them Marpet didn’t exactly take the inside handoff well.
I would easily take him over at least 22 other left tackles in the NFL. Why don’t you haters branch out and watch some other teams week after week against great pass rushers and see how consistently good if not great this entire O line has been.
June 20th, 2022 at 12:03 am
^^^^^
Except when it counts
June 20th, 2022 at 9:29 am
I Love Jason Licht, and the job he has done, but let’s be real about Jason drafting Tristan Wirfs ? Tristan FELL to us in the draft, and we had a very big need for a Guard. So, Duh, we took him!
The pick was a total No Brainer!