Will Graham Barton Get The Tristan Wirfs Treatment?
April 26th, 2024
Bucs rooke center Graham Barton, the 2024 first-round pick.
Flash back to the 2020 summer. All kinds of new Bucs. Tom Brady. Foot-rubbing Rob Gronkowski. Playoff Lenny. Shady McCoy. Antoine Winfield.
And yeah, a big dude from the Iowa cornfields named Tristan Wirfs.
Wirfs was a first-round pick and when he’s done he very easily could be Jason Licht’s second-best player picked.
Wirfs had a new job. He would start at right tackle. And he had to keep middle-aged Tom Brady upright if the Bucs hoped to win.
The first game of the season was at New Orleans where Wirfs would have to tangle with hated slimy Saints Pro Bowl mouth Cam Jordan. Yikes.
So what the Bucs did to help Wirfs, the Bucs gathered Bucs sack king Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul together and ordered the pass-rushing duo to not let up on Wirfs.
From the very moment the first snap of padded practices hit Brady’s hands, Shaq and JPP were ordered to get after the rookie. Use every tool in their toolshed on him. No let up. No mercy. Pretend they are in the Super Bowl. Hold nothing back.
Wirfs was in an NFL cram course. He had to learn the NFL ways and learn fast or Jordan would eat his lunch. It almost seemed too much pressure on the rookie.
Instead, the plan worked and Wirfs owned Jordan in the season opener. Wirfs as a rookie gave up one sack, and that was to a guy who likely will be a Hall of Fame player, Khalil Mack.
Will new Bucs rookie center Graham Barton get the same treatment this summer?
Though the Bucs schedule hasn’t been released, the Bucs very likely have the best duo of defensive tackles in the game, Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey. One is a brute (Vea). The other is lightning quick (Kancey).
Will the Bucs go to Vea and Kancey and order them to unleash their skills on Barton so he is (insert team name)-Ready? Joe thinks the Bucs would be crazy not to.
And it’s not like Barton will be slow to learn. The Bucs’ new senator center majored at Duke in public policy.
That’s Duke, not Last Chance U.
April 26th, 2024 at 12:51 am
Barton has some Hulk-Smash rage in him..I’ll eat the few roughing the D calls coming
April 26th, 2024 at 12:52 am
Knowing our head coach and his desire to prove his genius, he’ll split Barton out wide in 3rd down packages.
But, yeah, some newbie late sign to the 90 man roster could shred his knee. Or Logan’s Hall could do it.
Please stay healthy, young Skywalker.
April 26th, 2024 at 12:52 am
Throw everything including the kitchen sink….plus he has his typical rook trials lol. He’ll shine through it all!
April 26th, 2024 at 1:03 am
Should have never moved Wirfs from RT
April 26th, 2024 at 1:03 am
Can’t wait to see what Jason does tomorrow. He just goes about it so methodically, and has gotten so damn good at it. Until Lovie was fired, JL’s first two years were doing Lovie’s bidding, including Jameis. Then he deferred to Koetter (OJ Howard, Aguayo, etc)
When Arians arrived, BA told Jason “Do your job! Get input from us but go get the best damn players from anywhere.
Which has what’s been happening since BA was hired by Jason.
April 26th, 2024 at 1:05 am
Should have never moved Marpet from guard- might still be playing
These coaches and GM are too fancy with their concept of cross training everyone.
April 26th, 2024 at 1:20 am
@Dave, sometimes Jason listens to me and a small pool of us here, including the Joes. When he does, he drafts well, when he doesnt, its meh? i dont know….but its all good.
April 26th, 2024 at 1:51 am
I sure as hell hope so. As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.
Barton should have faced Kancey in the past but I doubt he has ever seen anything like VV.
April 26th, 2024 at 1:54 am
Nice little tidbit Joe
April 26th, 2024 at 2:13 am
Just keep Hall away from him.
April 26th, 2024 at 2:49 am
Great pick – keep building the trenches baby!
April 26th, 2024 at 5:24 am
Looks like a great pick to me! Much needed help for our O-line- just what we needed! I have a feeling this is gonna be a great season! Go Bucs!!! 🏈🏆🌎
April 26th, 2024 at 6:50 am
Clean house gets the prize of worst take ever. Marpet was a decent Center and a great Gaurd. You can get just as many concussions at Center than Gaurd. Teams have to cross-train because of the restrictions on team size. Injuries happen and it’s much better to ask a player to go in a play a position that has played it before. I feel ridiculous having to write that out.
April 26th, 2024 at 6:54 am
Cleanhouse, you’re a clown. Wirfs is one of the top tackles in the league on either side and about to become the highest paid one in the league.
And Marpet was a guard ?
April 26th, 2024 at 7:18 am
I would love to see Graham Barton play Guard and move Cody Mauch to center. Barton has the strength and frame to play any position on the line but Cody is a bit under sized. He looks more suited for center.
April 26th, 2024 at 8:00 am
BTW in an attempt to stop with the height BS.
A poster here “joked” ? he hoped Mayfield could see over Barton again reviving the old wives tales about limitations of short QB’s. Just Google and think about it.
“Neither metric is typically associated with QB success, but those results indicate that a lack of athleticism has long been common among taller quarterbacks.”
Being short or being tall is not in itself a huge advantage according the actual metrics. Typically as is noted smaller QB’s were considered far more athletic than the tall guys. And that was true back in the days of players like 6-0 190lb
Fran Tarkenton.
The game changed because human beings changed and started to produced more freaks like Josh Allen at 6-4 and a biscuit under 240. There are simply larger human beings at EVERY position in the NFL over the past several decades.
Barton is a GREAT pic. He pancaked Verse on one of his highlights…the kid has it all. So if Barton pancakes or blows his guy five yards off the ball do we suppose Mayfield has the talent to move six inches to his right or left if needed to see around Barton. And pancaked guys are easy to see around!
I can’t wait to see Mayfield’s connection and how he welcomes him to the team.
Mayfield was loved by his OL including Hainsey. I think Mayfield is smart or perhaps it just worked out but apparently one of his best friends on the team is Wirfs!!! Mayfield’s mama didn’t raise a dummy. I think he’ll be supportive of Hainsey on a human level but on a football level Baker has to love this pick!!!
April 26th, 2024 at 8:36 am
@DavePear
“Knowing our head coach and his desire to prove his genius, he’ll split Barton out wide in 3rd down packages.”
Or is it knowing you Dave and YOUR desire to prove YOUR genius.
It’s an opinion blog and everybody is entited to theirs I’m HONESTLY CURIOUS
and I realize you can’t speak for the many here like you Dave but why the freaking hate.
I’ve always been an Air Coryell Guy. D.R. is probably more of a Parcells guy he can speak for himself…my point is that there is more than one way to win and while I disagree with Bowles approach from an entertainment standpoint…I don’t need to impugn his personality to make my point.
ALL of the guys want ONE THING. WIN!!! Todd Bowles reveals the least ego since Tony Dungy. Chucky was a freaking ego maniac…but I believe even Chucky would place his ego behind his desire to WIN!
April 26th, 2024 at 9:18 am
@ MadMax nobody listens to you. That’s just your delusions of grandeur🤣🤣🤡🤡
April 26th, 2024 at 2:59 pm
KHALIL MACK VS WIRFS
Wirfs was giving Khalil the business. He was owning him, until … Khalil got insanely frustrated and then he just exploded. He FLIPPED Wirfs head-over-heels and onto his ass. It was the biggest (literally) “Welcome to the NFL” moment of Wirfs rookie year.
April 27th, 2024 at 11:58 am
Cleanhouse, You get the award for dumbest comments ever!