Baker Mayfield may get the headlines in Tampa Bay, but Tristan Wirfs is still the Buccaneers’ most valuable non-quarterback - and maybe their best player, period.
That reality says a lot about Wirfs and even more about how the NFL hands out its biggest prizes. Quarterbacks dominate the spotlight, the paychecks and, just about every year, the MVP race.
The last non-QB to win the award was Adrian Peterson in 2012. Even in a league where star edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. just became the first non-QB in NFL history to land a $50 million-a-year deal in April, the most prestigious individual honor still feels almost locked away for everyone except the men under center.
Wirfs, though, keeps making the case that he belongs in the conversation of the league’s very best players. In six seasons, he has earned five Pro Bowl selections and three All-Pro nods.
Patra called him a “stone wall,” and that description fits the way he plays. He protects Mayfield’s blind side, he opens lanes in the run game, and when he’s healthy, he looks like the kind of tackle who can erase an edge rusher’s afternoon.
The numbers back that up. Wirfs posted a 92.7 overall grade from PFF, which ranked second among 89 qualified tackles.
He finished third among tackles in run-blocking grade and fourth in pass-blocking grade, a rare combination for a player at his position. And he did it while dealing with injuries that cost him five games last season, including two important losses late in the year.
Patra noted that “When healthy, Wirfs is the definition of a stone wall, with Pro Bowl nods in each of the last five years. The left tackle shields Baker Mayfield ’s blind side while being able to blow open holes in the ground game.
Only injury slowed Wirfs last season, when he missed five games, including two crucial losses down the stretch. Playing through some nicks last year lessened Wirfs' production, but the Iowa product is in line to bounce back.
Outside of Mayfield, there isn’t a more important Buccaneer in 2026.”
That kind of value is obvious to anyone watching Tampa Bay, but it still runs into the same wall every offensive lineman faces: MVP voters almost never go there. No offensive lineman has ever won MVP, unless Mel Hein’s 1938 season - when he played center and linebacker for the New York Giants - is counted. And even Offensive Player of the Year has never gone to a lineman.
So while Wirfs has established himself as one of the best tackles in football, the award ceiling is brutally low. Unless Tampa Bay starts using him as a goal-line running back, his place in the league will be what it has been: elite, indispensable, and mostly appreciated by people who know exactly how hard it is to find a left tackle this good.
Even without a trophy case full of individual awards, Wirfs has already shown how much he means to the Buccaneers. If Tampa Bay is going to have success this season, he’ll be right at the center of it.
And if he misses major time again in 2026, or simply slips from his usual standard, the drop-off would be felt fast. Very few players matter more to their team than Wirfs does to the Bucs.
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