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Heading into the 2020 NFL Draft, it was a good year to need an offensive tackle — especially the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Within the first 13 picks of the 2020 NFL Draft, four offensive tackles got drafted, including Buccaneers offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs out of Iowa. However, the Buccaneers’ tackle actually didn’t think he’d get selected by Tampa Bay after a pre-draft mishap, per Ari Meirov on X.
“At the time I wasn’t too worried about [the draft order for offensive tackles]. You know, when they called me on draft night they were like, ‘You ready to protect Tom Brady?’ And I was like, ‘I’ll get ready.’ That was kind of top of mind right there, but I understand that it’s a business, and I wouldn’t have been surprised any order with the four guys would’ve went.
“I didn’t think I was going to Tampa. I thought I had ‘pooped the bed’ in the interview with Tampa at the combine. There’s the pre-draft interviews after the combine and normally they’re in-person, but it was Covid, so we were all on Zoom. They were my first Zoom meeting. I had never used Zoom before, and I was like two-to-three minutes late because I couldn’t figure out how to get logged on. And I was like, ‘I blew it. They hate me.’ Then, they called me on draft night. I was like, ‘Alright, here we go.’ But, no, I was ecstatic after that. I was just trying to get down there.”
Funny story: Tristan Wirfs thought the #Bucs wouldn’t draft him in 2020 after he “pooped the bed” in his Combine interview and showed up late to his second meeting with them.
Safe to say it worked out. https://t.co/MKB8SZrCWI pic.twitter.com/eVLntykiP0
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) February 7, 2025
Now, although Wirfs was a bit tardy to his pre-draft interview with the Buccaneers, clearly that didn’t stop the two from building an outstanding partnership together.
Since being selected by the Buccaneers in the 2020 NFL Draft, Wirfs has been invited to four Pro Bowls, is a two-time All-Pro, and has a Super Bowl ring.
Maybe it’s fate that the Buccaneers landed Wirfs because he was the fourth tackle off the board, but it almost couldn’t have gone better for both parties.
On one side, Wirfs is the highest-paid offensive lineman per season ($28 million/year) after signing a five-year, $140.6 million contract with the Buccaneers.
On the other side, the Buccaneers have one of the best tackles in the NFL under 30.
It can take time for an offensive tackle to adjust to the NFL, but with Wirfs, that transition appeared to happen overnight, as the former Iowa Hawkeye has made an immense impact on the Tampa Bay community after landing with the Buccaneers in 2020.
Even though he was fashionably late to his pre-draft interview, it seems to have all worked out.
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