Medical Judgment Error On Tristan Wirfs Suggested
July 9th, 2025
“Mr. Glazer, this dreck is why Disney stock has plummeted over the past five years.”
Social media has been buzzing with Bucs fans irked or mad because Tristan Wirfs had surgery on his bad knee yesterday instead of months ago. They think the Bucs screwed up.
Some of that sentiment made its way to NFL Live on ESPN this afternoon.
Panelist Booger McFarland, the former Bucs defensive tackle (1999-2006), explained that Tampa Bay players have end-of-season talks with the Bucs’ medical team. A typical conversation for an injured player, he said, will include whether to heal the injury through rest or to have surgery.
Barring an offseason aggravation of Wirfs’ knee (or a different injury altogether), McFarland said he’s smelling a screwup. “Sounds like they may have made a mistake as far as when and if to do this surgery on Tristan Wirfs.”
ESPN’s Dan Graziano reported on the show that the Bucs and Wirfs decided on resting the knee and it wasn’t a winning choice.
“This offseason it didn’t really respond to rest the way they hoped it would,” Graziano said, noting Wirfs made the decision to get the knee issue “fixed” under the knife.
Booger called the Wirfs injury another “hurdle” the Bucs have to jump over.
“New playcaller, the consistency that you want to have around Baker Mayfield just isn’t there right now,” Booger said, noting Baker Mayfield needs to stay comfortable to be successful.
Joe isn’t going to play doctor here, especially without knowledge of whether Wirfs injured or re-injured himself after the 2024 season.
The cold reality is Wirfs has played 88 games in a Bucs uniform including playoffs. That’s a lot of wear on a very large man.
A Quick Word On The Tristan Wirfs Injury, And Ira Kaufman Talks Cornerback Decisions, Trending Predictions, Head Coach Playoff Records, Year 2 Of Bucky Irving, And Much More
July 9th, 2025 at 5:34 pm
Where there’s smoke there’s fire and the Bucs will be fortunate this takes only 4 games from 2025. Sad
July 9th, 2025 at 5:37 pm
Time to hire some new doctors for the staff.
July 9th, 2025 at 5:50 pm
it may have been wirfs decision. same type of scenario on refusing covid shot. wirfs didnt want his knee cut up. if it wasnt 100 percent necessary . at the end of the day its his body.
July 9th, 2025 at 5:53 pm
This is the training staff behind the Bucs’ scores of non contact injuries season after season. Something is clearly flawed with this group.
July 9th, 2025 at 5:57 pm
i always was more under the assumption that big tristan had and ankle or high ankle issue that takes time to get right…
i don’t even really recall much of a reoccurring knee issue
July 9th, 2025 at 5:57 pm
Oxy agree, rest is better than the knife always but it sometimes just doesn’t work out that way. At least he made the decision quickly. I think he/they had a timetable in mind that if it wasn’t responding by such and such a time then go have it done. The probably scoped it and then did the needed surgery when they saw what was inside. Scoping is the easy part but when they had to repair they did. As you said Joe, he is a big man and the joints take a pounding from games, lifting, etc.
July 9th, 2025 at 5:59 pm
Now we wait on Evans annual hamstring issue.
July 9th, 2025 at 6:01 pm
everyones having a knee jerk reaction 🙂
and now i might have us at 10 winnebagos, not 11 winnebagos
July 9th, 2025 at 6:02 pm
Booker is low IQ. “The consistency that you want to have around Baker isn’t there right now. He needs to be comfortable to be successful.” BS. Joe, didn’t we win the game he missed last year?
July 9th, 2025 at 6:07 pm
“Nothing would get Falcons fans more excited than seeing Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. knock Baker Mayfield around, and that could very well happen after Tristan Wirfs underwent knee surgery.”
Put on the Bulletin Board. Atlanta Press now making Atlanta a lock to win the Division. Some are saying they will get 4-6 sacks and knock Baker out for the season.
July 9th, 2025 at 6:15 pm
Of course, somebody has to point a finger in order to have a take. What a bunch of crap.
July 9th, 2025 at 6:21 pm
There’s really no way to spin this — the medical staff and Wirfs clearly messed up. Period. You can use whatever excuse you want, but this seems to be a recurring issue. I remember thinking last season that they didn’t seem particularly competent, and I even complained about it here a few times.
They rarely seem to make the right call. It feels like they’re so afraid of recommending surgery or making the wrong decision that they end up making no decision — just sitting, waiting, and hoping things work out. Sometimes they get lucky, but too often, they don’t.
July 9th, 2025 at 6:26 pm
I’m surprised no one has said it’s Todd’s fault
July 9th, 2025 at 6:41 pm
Ok Booger I’ll give you new play caller , but the consistency part what are you talking about? He’s had two new offensive coordinators that left ,now onto the 3rd one. I do know what we are consistent at is getting to playoffs recently.
July 9th, 2025 at 6:50 pm
Josh, no one necessarily messed up here. You take care of injury with rest whenever possible. Everything about this screams arthroscopy for a clean up (yes, scopes are considered surgery). With this time line he’ll be back week 1, easy. No way this is worse, they would have already taken care of it if it was (ligament damage, major miniscul tear, etc.). You questioning the medical staff is comical, btw. Training staff, maybe.
July 9th, 2025 at 6:52 pm
Another idiotic zinger against Baker. This time by Booger who says Baker needs consistency around him and just doesn’t have it right with a new play caller and now the injury to Tristan. Baker needs to be comfortable to be successful unlike the true greats who just gitter dun regardless of their situation. What a clown!
July 9th, 2025 at 6:58 pm
On the bright side, they have all training camp, and preseason to get ready. It’ll speed up the development of their younger players. Carberry is a top notch Oline coach, he’ll have them ready. Should it been handled different? Yeah, but time to move on.
July 9th, 2025 at 7:13 pm
These are posters, that don’t make them Bucs fans. I’m with them till the end, thru thick and thin. I’m still predicting a 12-5 record..
Buc Ball forever 💯💯
July 9th, 2025 at 7:29 pm
I envision a lot of roll-out rights, which REALLY isn’t bad, Baker seems to be more accurate when running for his life
July 9th, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Remember when we lost our starting LT, OC, LG,RG after the Super Bowl win. Did we or did we not built most dominant, solid O-Line in recent memory. Even better than our Super Bowl O-Line.
I have complete faith/confidence in coaching staff
July 9th, 2025 at 7:30 pm
The Wirfs situation, Dennis not getting his shoulder taken care of coming out of Pitt, whatever the heck happened Jensen, and Beckwith, and Justin Evans…the continuous soft tissue injuries across the board….it seems a massive review of this medical staff is in order. Not saying there’s necessarily a problem, but the processes certainly need to be double checked.
July 9th, 2025 at 7:53 pm
This ^^^^
It’s honestly comical to me that you’re not questioning every position on this team. Did the Bucs win the Super Bowl last year? No, they didn’t—so every player, coach, and position should be under scrutiny and evaluation. Every team that didn’t win the Super Bowl should be doing the same….
The training staff was subpar last season as well. But, I recall multiple instances where they chose to “wait” on injuries, only to eventually place players on IR with the designation to return after a few weeks anyways. Clearly, their “wait and see” approach is used far too often and needs to be re-evaluated. That’s on the medical staffs evaluation process.
There a multi billion dollar NFL franchise you’re telling me he couldn’t come in a month ago and have this looked at???
July 9th, 2025 at 8:06 pm
Does anybody remember Ryan Jensen?!
Knee should have been reassessed 2 months after deciding to go with “rest”.
July 9th, 2025 at 8:07 pm
Wirfs likely gave waiting as much time as possible as he likely did not want this procedure. Its all on him, he has the final say and must of known all the timelines.
July 9th, 2025 at 8:10 pm
Seems to me that the Bucs organization and Wirfs handled it the correct way, giving something non-drastic a chance to work before going under the knife – something EVERYBODY here would do if given the option in their own lives – ones that don’t include being super athletic at a super size.
From what I have read, the surgery was supposed to be more on the minor side until they found something more serious when he was opened up. That is what led to the more unfortunate prediction on his recovery time.
I guess some of the people here that think they are far smarter than doctors. Those people believe the Bucs should have some sort of future predictor, a modern day Nostradamus in order to predict the unpredictable.
Sadly, I’ve grown accustomed to the knee-jerk negativity by many here.
July 9th, 2025 at 8:24 pm
**These pissed off posters** ……
LMAO 😂😂
July 9th, 2025 at 8:25 pm
Herdofem Says:
July 9th, 2025 at 8:06 pm
Yeah, I think we all do.
His knee was wrecked. Surgery ASAP after the injury would not have changed the outcome.
2nd guessing without all the information is effing stupid.
July 9th, 2025 at 8:37 pm
“Herdofem Says:
July 9th, 2025 at 8:06 pm
Does anybody remember Ryan Jensen?!
Knee should have been reassessed 2 months after deciding to go with “rest”.
Jensen’s knee was destroyed that day, surgery or no…only question was would he walk with a cane the rest of his life. If surgery could have fixed it DON’T you think he’d still be playing???
July 9th, 2025 at 8:40 pm
NFL culture, like all cultures is vastly different now.
Players don’t risk life and limb to get back immediately. The decision is ultimately on TW. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him get surgery.
The timing is $hitty. No doubt.
July 9th, 2025 at 9:17 pm
Jensen said had he elected to have surgery his career would have been over.
July 9th, 2025 at 9:22 pm
Assuming this is just a scope to clean up scar tissue. Hopefully not that big of a deal.
July 9th, 2025 at 10:23 pm
Brian in FL Says:
July 9th, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Yeah, because these situation don’t happen with ever NFL team, right?
These are standard issue injury situations that every team deals with. These players have human bodies and they get hurt, and they have different healing rates, and who knows what other variables. Sh!t’s gonna happen. These are not machines, and you can’t conveniently assign blame when health issues take guys out. Every team deals with this.
July 9th, 2025 at 10:54 pm
Bosch Says:
July 9th, 2025 at 5:53 pm
Your conclusion is flawed.
Every NFL team deals with the same things. The Bucs are not an outlier.
July 9th, 2025 at 10:55 pm
Josh Says:
July 9th, 2025 at 6:21 pm
Only if you think dealing with and treating issues is straightforward.
No one screwed up. Period. Period.
July 9th, 2025 at 10:56 pm
Dunbasses be dumbassin’ today.
July 9th, 2025 at 10:58 pm
This team seems to get plagued with injuries often. Why does Mike keep hurting his hams? And jamel Dean… Reassessing the training/medical staff would be appropriate if these same things recur
July 9th, 2025 at 11:02 pm
This medical training staff has disaster written all over it. Remember all the hamstring injuries every year. I remember Mike Evans playing on a bad hamstring last year in a game he should have never played in. Why can’t this team ever get it together. Seems like the medical staff should have been showed the door years ago.
July 9th, 2025 at 11:31 pm
I appreciate the effort to defend the medical and training staff, but let’s be honest—this isn’t an unexpected setback or an unavoidable scheduling hiccup. We’re talking about a billion-dollar franchise with every resource at its disposal. If a player’s availability hinged on a medical evaluation, that appointment should’ve been locked in weeks ago—not crammed in at the last minute like a forgotten dentist visit. “Let’s scope that knee… OH CRAP!!” isn’t exactly the level of preparedness you expect at this level.
In a professional sports organization, “last-minute” should never be part of the vocabulary when it comes to player readiness or medical evaluations. Whether the issue was poor communication, bad planning, or a dropped ball somewhere between departments, the responsibility ultimately falls on the organization’s infrastructure—including the medical and training staff. This isn’t about assigning blame for the sake of it; it’s about holding professionals accountable to the standards expected in a league where the margins are razor-thin and preparation is everything.
Losing Wirfs could cost the Bucs home-field advantage, the division, and potentially a Super Bowl—depending on how things play out. Could literally be a moot point and mean nothing also…
Of course, if there were extenuating circumstances behind the scenes, that’s a different conversation. But absent that, this feels less like bad luck and more like bad planning.
If he just got hurt, then say that and let’s move forward. If not, this is 100% on the medical staff—and him not having this appointment weeks ago.
July 9th, 2025 at 11:47 pm
The issue isn’t the 2025 season, it’s his career. You don’t f around with knee injuries on 340lb lineman.
Whatever it takes to get him right, not ready in a certain predetermined amount of time.
If he has to lose a season….so be it.
July 9th, 2025 at 11:50 pm
This is not on the Bucs.
They present options and “Wirfs made the decision”…both times.
But, no need to panick, because OL is something the Bucs do well.
July 10th, 2025 at 12:11 am
I live fans second guessing when they have zero knowledge of the actual situation. But people have to have someone to blame when things don’t go as they hope.
July 10th, 2025 at 5:06 am
I don’t know. Many of us probably would think long and hard if we need to go under vs maybe trying to conservatively rehab instead. It’s a big decision.
Sometimes you can rehab and avoid the surgery. Tristan had some setbacks, sounding like he tried other measures first. In the end, it was his final decision along with his doctors. No judgement here.
July 10th, 2025 at 6:04 am
It’s impossible to make an educated guess about the handling of the injury devoid of a diagnosis. I’ll leave the speculation to the expert opinionators.
July 10th, 2025 at 6:44 am
“”There a multi billion dollar NFL franchise you’re telling me he couldn’t come in a month ago and have this looked at??””
That’s the bottom line. All of a sudden 2 weeks before training camp and with one of the 2 most important players on the team a bomb drops and it’s oops we got a problem here. It’s ridiculous and will most definitely cost this team critical wins in a season that many say could be special. They’ll be lucky to get out of the first month 1-3. There’s your reality.
July 10th, 2025 at 7:39 am
everybody was hyping the bucs and this is a reality check. it’s tough to win in the nfl no matter what and with this it won’t get easier, everybody needs to hold off giving us the lombardi trophy already
July 10th, 2025 at 8:16 am
The Bucs need to take a hard look at their medical staff. Who is calling the shots? The ones writing the LARGE pay checks or the ones cashing the checks? Perhaps if a player wants to receive large ones they should listen to the writers. NO EXCUSE for Wiffs not listening to the medical experts.
July 10th, 2025 at 8:34 am
HUGE MISS by the training staff. Licht should be looking for more competent medical staff asap. Bucs just went from being a 10 win team to an 8 win team. New OC, modified scheme, no starting LT, no Godwin. Things are looking very bad for the Yucs.