Tristan Wirfs Gets Another Raise To $20.985 Million
February 25th, 2024
What some fans, players and media consider worthless means a hell of a lot to Tristan Wirfs.
The joke the Pro Bowl has turned into is a valuable commodity for first-round draft picks.
Wirfs has made three Pro Bowls in is four seasons. As a result of making two, that triggered a clause in Wirfs’ contract — and those of all first-round picks — that says a guy about to play the fifth and final season of his rookie contract will earn the value of the franchise tag at his position for that fifth season.
Franchise tag rates have soared along with the unexpected, last-minute bump in the 2024 salary cap. So Wirfs will now earn $20.985 million for this season and it all counts against the Bucs’ cap space.
(For those wondering, a player qualifying for franchise tag money has to earn the Pro Bowl berth on the first try. He can’t be the third of fourth Pro Bowl alternate at his position like Jameis Winston was for Tampa Bay in 2015.)
Some fans wonder where the Bucs can find enough cash to keep their Big 5 free agents — Mike Evans, Baker Mayfield, Lavonte David, Antoine Winfield and Chase McLaughlin.
One (no-brianer?) approach could be to sign Wirfs to a fat contract extension now to lower his 2024 cap hit significantly.
February 25th, 2024 at 6:07 am
Good idea, sure. But pitter patter, let’s get at ‘er. FA draws nearer every day and each day that passes without any kind of contract news makes the fans more anxious.
Chum the waters Licht w a restructure or an inevitable cutting of Russel Gage!
February 25th, 2024 at 6:34 am
Good for that young man! Unfortunately I think a couple fan favorites will not be back in Bucs uniforms this year. We still have a couple more years of cap hell, but that’s part of making a Super Bowl run. It pains me to say sign the young guys let everyone else go in free agency. Sign the Kicker first please not sure how many games he won this year.
February 25th, 2024 at 6:38 am
Most of this stuff gets taken care of at the combine, this should be a big week for the front office. The salary cap is not real they can bring back anyone they want. My stance, no more Mike = no more season tickets.
February 25th, 2024 at 6:47 am
How much of a raise did he get?
February 25th, 2024 at 6:51 am
When a player like Wirfs makes Pro Bowl in 3 of his first 4 years, you don’t let him get away. That’d be akin to the Red Sox letting Babe Ruth escape to the Yankees. And to keep that from happening, JL needs to do a NEW long-term contract with Tristan NOW. His should be the 1st contract done, because it truly is a no-brainer and can be structured to free up necessary CAP money right now.
Glad to see Joe that you’ve acquiesced to including Chase McLaughlin in what is now the Top-FIVE Bucs’ FAs. His and Winfield’s should be the next contracts done, followed by Mayfield’s and LVD’s. Mike Evans will test the FA waters I’m convinced, and with the huge increase in this year’s salary CAP his cost just went up for sure. If I was JL I’d be looking around at some of the free agent WRs who’ll be hitting the market in a couple of weeks.
Cutting Russell Gage seemed like a no-brainer also a couple of weeks ago, but maybe redoing his deal to a heavily incentive-laden contract with a low salary would be better for the Bucs. If he gets hurt yet again, no incentive money goes out. But if he has a nice season, good for us … and him. When healthy, he’s a good slot receiver and we could use one of those if Evans moves on (that’d hopefully free up Godwin for uses other than slot receiver).
February 25th, 2024 at 7:34 am
I don’t why the NFL has a salary cap no one else does. Its a joke look at the Saints this time last year they were almost minus 100 mil in cap space and signed Carr for about 35 mil. The league needs to fix it or get rid of it.
February 25th, 2024 at 7:35 am
Give him a 10 year deal now!
February 25th, 2024 at 7:58 am
Go another year without paying a premium for a mid tier QB! It isn’t worth it!
Offer Russ Wilson a chance at redemption at a bargain rate, draft another project QB, move on from Trask.
Have the money to pay your studs, keep looking for a top tier QB.
February 25th, 2024 at 8:06 am
Who cares? Of everyone on the team…and I mean every other player on the team, Wirfs is the most deserving of whatever deal/money he gets.
February 25th, 2024 at 8:25 am
NHL has a salary cap…it’s real
February 25th, 2024 at 8:29 am
The reason they have a salary cap is to keep a completive balance. With out it you would have super rich owners in major markets dominate.
If I’m not mistaken, hockey has a salary cap and the MBL has a luxury tax.
How many 20 million plus players are the Bucs going to have on the roster when they sign their free agents.
Wirfs 20+ million
Godwin 20 Million
Evans 22 + million
Mayfield 35 million
Vea 20 million
Windfield 20+ million
That’s almost 137 million on 5 players
February 25th, 2024 at 8:33 am
This dude will definitely break the bank and be paid as one of the top 3 tackles in the nfl
February 25th, 2024 at 8:41 am
6 Years – $160M – $100M Guaranteed $25M signing bonus
Locks Wirfs in long term and frees up at least $12-15M in 2024 cap space
Git -R – DONE!
February 25th, 2024 at 8:42 am
@George R
The Bucs are going to do some restructuring in the coming months to free up more cap space.
February 25th, 2024 at 8:44 am
I’m not a capologist, but I like the idea of redoing contracts to improve the cap hit. Gage, Davis, possibly even Shaq.
February 25th, 2024 at 8:45 am
Didn’t the salary cap for NFL increase 30M this year? With a few cuts, franchising Winfield and not giving Baker Mayfield the farm, that should be plenty enough to sign all our star players.
February 25th, 2024 at 9:09 am
You do not let this guy get away. It would be insane, regardless of his cap hit.
February 25th, 2024 at 10:29 am
Wirfs has shown himself to be consistently very good to great since drafted, something you need in your qb but something we’ll never know since we’ve never developed a qb to great status nor a second contract. Teams who draft a good qb and develop him to become very good to great are the ones who stay consistently good. Teams who rely on mercenaries and the trash heap are the ones who don’t
February 25th, 2024 at 10:31 am
We once made Jensen the highest paid center in the NFL.
It’s time to extend Wirfs.
Highest paid tackle in the NFL.
He’s earned it.
February 25th, 2024 at 11:01 am
Big Wirfs….lol my man, look at you now. Just keep that warrior spirit and stay healthy my brother….oh and save that money.
February 25th, 2024 at 11:11 am
Third or Fourth Pro Bowl alternate. Is that something like Purdy Stafford and Prescott passing on it and Mayfield ending up starting?
Folks might want to put a * when hyping up his value based on being a ‘starting Pro Bowl QB.
Wirf is well worth it. Last surviving member of the 2020 SB Line.
February 25th, 2024 at 11:43 am
This is where and when Jason Licht earns his money. Lets see if he can keep the band together. I think not. A couple will get away. They always do. I get this feeling Mike Evans is gone though. Some team will PAY DA MAN. But we gotta try to keep Mayfield and Winfield
February 25th, 2024 at 11:47 am
I love how you used Winston as the example of “alternate”, when it just happened to Baker. No need to ruffle any feathers
This is a no brainer deal now. That is a NFL rule for all players now, not just a clause in Wirfs contract.
February 25th, 2024 at 12:37 pm
Hope they extend him now instead of later.
February 25th, 2024 at 12:53 pm
Extend him and open the bank for Baker (35-39), Evans (24-27), Winfield (18-21), David (5-8), McLaughlin (2.5-4).
Decimates the cap, but we need to tear a couple pages from the Saints playbook for these next couple years. The Saints are gonna stay alive and get helped by these year to year cap bumps but were still stupid, thinking they have a better roster than they did and signing Carr (hah).
Bucs aren’t as old and have been drafting better than the Saints, so if we do push hits into the future we will continue to own the NFC South and keep our career HoFs in Evans and David at home.
February 25th, 2024 at 2:01 pm
Or like Baker Mayfield was an alternate? Nice selective memory fan boy
February 25th, 2024 at 2:12 pm
I don’t see where they have a choice but to sign Wirfs this offseason to a new contract so they can roll a lot of that money to later years. Other than that they would probably have to dump one of there two 20 million dollars cornerbacks. The Bucs have worked miracles before with the cap but that was when they were a couple of players away from the Super Bowl. I don’t think they want to do that again unless they believe they are a real Super Bowl caliber team. They will have to come up with something if they want to sign Mayfield, Evans, Winfield and Lavonte to new contracts. Wouldn’t be surprised if we lose one of those four to another team. Just hope it’s not Evans.
February 25th, 2024 at 2:34 pm
🔥 tb
February 25th, 2024 at 3:39 pm
I’d say get an extension done for Wirfs first, then do the best you can with everyone else.
February 25th, 2024 at 4:00 pm
Mark my words, AW is the guy the Bucs better franchise. A team like the Packers would pay top dollar for him. He checks off multiple boxes for them…young, talented, leadership qualities, love for the game, a new DC and system, where he could help in the transition. Would be hard for the Packers to overpay for what AW would bring to their team.
February 25th, 2024 at 6:28 pm
I would be smilin too.
February 25th, 2024 at 7:20 pm
Congrats to Tristan!
Dude has earned every penny.
Licht will figure out how to pay everyone
February 25th, 2024 at 8:19 pm
The only players we need to spend more than $10 million a year on are players who show skills coaches can’t teach. Tristin Wirfs, Mike Evans, and vita Vera are great examples. Carlton David and Jamal Dean are replaceable and not worth being paid more than $10 million a year
February 25th, 2024 at 9:48 pm
Derek Carr and Baker Mayfield are two peas in a pod at Baker’s best. Learn from the Saints and do not overpay to keep Mayfield in Tampa. I’d love to keep Baker around for 10-15 mil because it’s probably our best chance for short term success due to continuity, but NFL, it’s a business and we can plug in plenty of QB’s. One could easily make a case for Carr being the better QB than Baker. You really can’t male a case that Baker is better than Carr…
February 26th, 2024 at 1:07 am
If he banked that check and lived off the intrest that would still be a million. Generations liberated.
February 26th, 2024 at 6:44 am
Who’s this Russell Gage you speak of?
February 26th, 2024 at 1:15 pm
Mike Evans, Baker Mayfield, Lavonte David, Antoine Winfield and Chase McLaughlin. I don’t think we are going to be able to keep Evans. Until 2 weeks ago I was pretty sure we could keep Baker, but now I am on the borderline on whether we can afford with competition for his services elsewhere on teams with a lot more cap space. Lavonte David is a nice to have, but not necessary. Winfiend, we need to keep at any cost even if it means slapping a franchise tag on him. Chase McLaughlin is also an up in the air selection. Good luck Bucs.