Some Rookie Wall
February 10th, 2021
Lost in all the beer chugging and Jack Daniels shots over the Bucs winning the Super Bowl may be one of the best stories to hit the Bucs in a long while.
AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht has been on a roll with his drafts Three years ago it was trading back to get Vita Vea. This guy just toys with centers who are dumb enough to try to block him one-on-one. In his first game back from injury, Vea tossed around Packers All-Pro center Corey Linsley like he was a child.
Two years ago it was Devin White who, since he returned from testing positive for The Sickness, has been playing like a possessed wildman.
Last year, however, may have been Licht’s biggest grab. He only traded up one spot to get right tackle Tristan Wirfs. And with all due respect to Mike Evans, who Joe thinks the complete world of, Wirfs is looking like Licht’s greatest move.
Wirfs had a season most veteran NFL offensive linemen only dream of having. In just his first year, Wirfs may be the best right tackle in the league.
If not, Wirfs is certainly in the discussion. And to think, Wirfs didn’t have the benefit of any OTAs, minicamps or worthless preseason games.
(Column Intermission: The Bucs just won the Super Bowl in which every man who touched the football on a scoring play, five players (Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown, Leonard Fournette and Ryan Succop) were not on the Bucs roster in February 2020. Three of the five weren’t on the roster as dawn broke on the morning of Sept. 1, 2020. Don’t ever try to con Joe with this notion preseason games are important — to hell they are! The only thing preseason games are good for is lining the pockets of orthopedic surgeons and jacking up insurance premiums.)
Wirfs has all the makings of an absolute stud who will dominate left defensive ends for at least a decade for the Bucs.
The only rookie wall involving Wirfs was the wall he put up in front of defenders trying to get past him.
This guy Wirfs is a monster.
How about this rookie campaign from Bucs OL Tristan Wirfs:
• 22 years old
• started all 20 games
• did not miss a single offensive snap (1,280 plays)
• 1 penalty since Week 5
• 799 pass-blocking snaps
• 1 sack allowed
• Super Bowl champion pic.twitter.com/J4L0PdTfou— NFLonCBS (@NFLonCBS) February 9, 2021
orthopedic surgeons
February 10th, 2021 at 9:04 am
He is the rookie wall
February 10th, 2021 at 9:05 am
Damn, this whirfs kids looks like gruber/ walter jones/ Pace type. Draft him and watch him go to the pro bowl the next 10 yrs. Stay healthy young man!
February 10th, 2021 at 9:06 am
Can’t argue with that conclusion.
February 10th, 2021 at 9:07 am
Jason Licht has done a great job, but we needed a tackle when Wirfs surprisingly fell all the way down to us.
Licht did trade up one spot to get Wirfs, but many have argued we could have had Wirfs w/o trading up one spot.
February 10th, 2021 at 9:10 am
Absolute STUD!
February 10th, 2021 at 9:11 am
@apple… i remember saying, so dumb of Jason to trade up! We could have had him any way. Shows how wrong I was. A pick for a pro bowler at a need, what a great pick!!!
February 10th, 2021 at 9:11 am
Incredible
February 10th, 2021 at 9:11 am
Toys with Centers? Re watch the game they were lining him at End and moving KPP inside. He was Bull Rushing the Tackle right back in to Mahomes face.
February 10th, 2021 at 9:12 am
An over looked accomplishment in his pre NFL life is he is a 2 time winner of the Solon Beef Days Hay Bale Toss. If you can win that twice you can handle a rookie wall!
February 10th, 2021 at 9:13 am
The “1 penalty” is really what stands out to me. That means he never panicked and grabbed a bunch of jersey.
February 10th, 2021 at 9:15 am
I love that guy.
February 10th, 2021 at 9:22 am
Wait? …wasn’t it the Joe’s who were totally against taking an offensive lineman with our first pick? …basically one article after another, after the draft, trashing Licht for not taking a LB or a pass rusher. You guys are funny
February 10th, 2021 at 9:27 am
No one is trying to con you Joe. preseason is to evaluate the bottom 1/3 of the roster. veteran teams with the GOAT at QB can get away without one. Sometimes you make up arguments just to beat one of your opinions to death.
February 10th, 2021 at 9:28 am
Not a better right tackle in the NFL!!
February 10th, 2021 at 9:29 am
Congrats Tristan!!! Go Bucs
February 10th, 2021 at 9:31 am
I wanted Wirfs more than any other OL in the draft. It should be a standing rule to draft an OL from Iowa anytime they are in the draft.
Also enjoy the sunny weather and the boat parade to those that are going.
It is Negative 21 degrees here right now.
February 10th, 2021 at 9:41 am
Joe the thing about preseason (speaking for myself) fans by then after what seems to be the longest offseason are itching for football, I love pre season games and seeing what could be our depth, self scouting in a way, and who i pick to root for. I love anything football, meaningless or not i love watching future nobody’s dressing up in Bucs uniforms and playing the game. Yes injuries happens, it’s football, but i don’t want to put off another month of not being able to see them lace it up, does that make me selfish? probably.
February 10th, 2021 at 9:42 am
Discipline and a powerhouse? Those players are diamonds in the rough. A call out to Succop & all the back up D line and LB’s that stepped in to give the starters breaks for their contribution in making Mahomes nigjt a nightmare.
February 10th, 2021 at 9:49 am
I did not know enough about the 4 OL prospects to know which one was best or which one I wanted; I just wanted one of them. It seems NFL GMs didn’t know which one was best either. In one sense Wirfs fell to us; you want impressive, look at the move to draft Marpet. That took some stones.
February 10th, 2021 at 9:50 am
Give credit where credit is due, Ryan Jensen touched the ball on all scoring plays except the field goal.
February 10th, 2021 at 9:54 am
I want T max back in here dangit, I want him to call him and everyone else overpaid backups.
Then immediately talk about how The super bowl the bucs just won was a fluke along with the 2003 title. And how rare it is to have two fluke titles.
February 10th, 2021 at 9:55 am
Wirfs is great!
Great skills, work ethic, personality and team player.
Move him to LT, let Durable Donnie walk and draft a RT.
Tristan will be a top tier LT and provide quality protection for our leader TB.
All DD does is back up and miss blocks. He also has tunnel vision and never looks to help elsewhere when needed.
Seems like he’s got the “I just try to block this one guy” attitude.
Wirfs is much more physical and plays hard.
February 10th, 2021 at 10:00 am
I’ll echo Dewey Selmon. Majority of starters around the league don’t need preseason, but evaluating special teams, backups, late round picks, UDFA’s and marginal starters do need live reps. With Brady, they got away with it bc that guy hasn’t needed a preseason since Drew Bledsoe was around in NE.
Joe you weren’t making this argument week 1 in the loss to the saints were you? We can gloat bc our team won in the end, but that only (barely) proves the argument for 1 team out of 32. You’ve said it your self, winning is the best cologne!
Whirfs and Winfield maybe didn’t need it. But ask Tyler Johnson and Ke’shawn Vaughn if they could have used a preseason. Everyone else had their preseason on Dickey Field at Berkeley Prep this year.
February 10th, 2021 at 10:01 am
Casey Philips did a good interview with him not long ago. He seems like a very humble nice guy.
February 10th, 2021 at 10:06 am
Even coaches say the structured practices with other teams are more valuable than preseason games.
February 10th, 2021 at 10:06 am
Yes, the move to draft Marpet. That took some stones.
Marpet was not exactly a blue chip prospect, and from a small school as well,
Really, the drafting of Wirfs was a no brainer. He fell to us, we needed a tackle, and he was the last really good one left.
February 10th, 2021 at 10:11 am
stud
February 10th, 2021 at 10:33 am
Already the best RT in football. What a pick!
February 10th, 2021 at 10:34 am
Chris
He didn’t fall to us, we had to trade up 1 spot.
February 10th, 2021 at 10:54 am
@ClodHopper: Wirfs tosses a 50lb. bale of hay over a 12′ bar.
Think about that.
(And a girl tossed it over a 10.5′ bar. Think about HER…)
February 10th, 2021 at 10:56 am
Hopefully Licht sees the value of drafting trench players in the first round now. Keep building on that and this championship feeling doesn’t go away.
February 10th, 2021 at 11:11 am
The left edge rushers in the NFL South should be looking for another gig. This kid will terrorize them for a decade.
This Super Bowl Championship had a lot of help from FAs, starting with Tom Brady, of course.
But you only will be a winner if you choose wisely the premium picks.
Mike Evans, Ali Marpet, Vita Vea, Carlton Davis, RoJo, Devin White, Winfield Jr and Tristan Wirfs are all studs. SMB, hopefully too.
Donavan Smith had a lot of ups and downs, but showed up when it mattered the most + outstanding availability = not amazing, but a good pick after all. And I didn’t give up on OJ Howard yet (even if I must recognize that Dalvin Cook would have been the right pick)
It also helps when you find gems/good contributors in the later rounds and UFA, like Chris Godwin, Alex Cappa, Jordan Whitehead, Mike Edwards, Scotty Miller, Tyler Johnson, Cam Brate and Jamel Dean
Not mentioning LVD and Gholston because they’re pre-Licht.
February 10th, 2021 at 11:37 am
Shout out to the first comment. Bird nailed it.
February 10th, 2021 at 12:21 pm
I read a long story about him. He is the pride of his mother, sister and entire town of Mount Vernon, Iowa. He is a respectful person and makes it known he loves his Mom and sister and town. A true American hero! Entire town of Bucs fans. Amazing draft pick!
February 10th, 2021 at 12:30 pm
Kid is a beast!!!!
GO BUCS
February 10th, 2021 at 2:26 pm
LVD and WGholston are pre-Licht? I knew those two went through the ownership management carousel nightmare. No more Glazers-are-the-greatest. They were too busy with the Brit soccer team back then.
February 10th, 2021 at 2:38 pm
Cobra
Corn fed lol
February 10th, 2021 at 4:05 pm
He is BOSS
February 10th, 2021 at 7:35 pm
Has any rookie offensive lineman had better stats? Ever?