Let’s put the spotlight on Bucs All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs.

With the 2024 season firmly in the rearview mirror and the pre-draft process, free agency, the draft itself, OTAs and mini-camp also behind us, it’s time to ramp up the excitement for training camp and then, of course, the Bucs’ 50th season. As we did last summer, we’ll spend the weeks leading up to training camp focusing on some storylines and narratives surrounding some of Tampa Bay’s biggest stars in 2025.

We started with quarterback Baker Mayfield, then went on to the backfield duo of Bucky Irving and Rachaad White before moving on to the wide receiver trio of Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan. Most recently, we covered tight end Cade Otton.

Today, it’s on to two-time All-Pro and four-time Pro Bowl left tackle Tristan Wirfs, who unexpectedly became the center of attention in the Tampa Bay football world this week due to a knee surgery that will cost him the beginning of the 2025 season.

Can The Bucs Stay Afloat Early In The Season Without Tristan Wirfs?

The start of the Bucs’ 2025 season got a whole lot tougher when Tristan Wirfs underwent surgery on his knee this week. As the story goes, the All-Pro left tackle may have re-aggravated a right knee injury this offseason and as the team scheduled arthroscopic surgery on that knee, more damage was found. This was the same knee issue that cost him a game last November.

With the surgery and impending recovery, Wirfs could possibly begin the season on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, which could cost him the first four games of the season. At the very least, he’s set to start the 2025 campaign on the sideline.

When we saw Wirfs at mandatory mini-camp last month, he was a non-participant and was sporting a bulky-looking brace on his knee. At the time, head coach Todd Bowles had no worries about it and said that his star left tackle would be ready to go for training camp. That obviously won’t be the case, and now Tampa Bay will have to navigate a tough start to the season without one of the pillars of its offense.

Bucs LT Tristan Wirfs – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The challenge for the Bucs, who expect to be very good in 2025 and potentially contend for the NFC title and the franchise’s third Lombardi Trophy, is to stay afloat early on in the season and still be contending when Wirfs is able to return to the field. It’ll be on free agent signee Charlie Heck, a five-year veteran who split last season between Arizona and San Francisco, to hold down the left tackle spot while Wirfs recovers.

Wirfs has been a rock for Tampa Bay’s offensive line since he was drafted in the first round of the 2020 Draft. Not only has he been elite at both right and left tackle, but he’s also been exceptionally durable. Including the playoffs, he played 88 games out of a possible 94 between 2020 and 2024. In those 88 games, the Bucs were 55-33. In the six games he’s missed over his five-year career (again, including one playoff game), the team is 2-4.

Wirfs’ absence creates an unexpected challenge for first-year offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard, as he now has to operate the offense without his two-time All-Pro and four-time Pro Bowl left tackle. Heck has played in 50 games with 23 starts over his five years in the league, so it’s not as if he’s unproven. But there’s bound to be a difference when you’re without a player like Wirfs, and Grizzard will have to adjust.

Bucs RT Tristan Wirfs – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The silver lining (if there is one) is that this happened in early July, which means Heck will have all of training camp and the preseason to continue taking reps with the starting offensive line, as he did when Wirfs was out for both OTAs and mini-camp. Not only that, but it gives Grizzard, quarterback Baker Mayfield and the rest of the Buccaneer offense nearly two months to prepare for life without Wirfs.

The Bucs open the season with a big divisional matchup at Atlanta and a Monday Night Football game against the defending AFC South champion Texans in Week 2. The team then comes home to host the Jets and the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles in Weeks 3 and 4, respectively, before the next four weeks before the Week 9 bye go at Seattle, home against San Francisco, at Detroit and at New Orleans. Time will tell how many of those games they’ll have to play without Wirfs, but staying afloat and competitive until he comes back will be key.

When Will Tristan Wirfs Be Back In Action For The Bucs?

Second verse, same as the first? Not exactly, but the unfortunate reality is that the 2025 season outlook for Tristan Wirfs drastically changed when surgery entered the picture. But while this storyline also pertains to the knee injury, it’s less about the goal during his absence and more about the length of the absence itself. In other words, when will Wirfs be healthy and ready to return to the field?

It’s still early days given the surgery just happened earlier this week. Not to mention, Wirfs and the Bucs are still supposed to be on vacation for the next couple of weeks before training camp begins in late July. So, there’s no press conference from general manager Jason Licht or head coach Todd Bowles to get an idea of what the timeline for Wirfs’ return will look like. So, as of now, it’s a bit of an unknown.

Bucs RT Tristan Wirfs and Eagles DE Josh Sweat – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The first indicator of a possible timeline outside of Bucs personnel flat-out disclosing it is how quickly the rehab process can begin for the 26-year-old. If he’s able to start getting some movement in relatively quickly, maybe there’s an outside chance that he’ll avoid landing on the PUP list to start the season. However, the likelier scenario is that he goes on the PUP list, which would cost him a minimum of four games to start 2025.

That would mean the Bucs playing at the Falcons, at the Texans and at home against the Jets and Eagles without Wirfs. But it’s a four-game minimum, so there’s no guarantee that he’ll be back to 100% healthy and ready to go for Week 5 at Seattle. That would simply be the earliest possible date he could return.

In recent days, there have been a lot of questions about the timeline of re-aggravation of the injury and the surgery that led to the discovery of additional damage. Perhaps the more pertinent questions are the extent of that damage and what the recovery process might look like. Because right now, Wirfs seems to have little chance of taking the field before the end of September and as far as we know, his absence could extend into October.

It goes without saying that Tampa Bay would like Wirfs back as soon as possible, but he has to be 100%. That’s a given, as the team has big goals that they’ll need their star left tackle for later on in the season and hopefully into the playoffs. That’s why Wirfs wanted to get this taken care of now, as that way, he can be available for “much of the season,” as ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said Wednesday.

But until further notice, it’s a wait-and-see game regarding Wirfs’ return to action.

Can Tristan Wirfs Keep His Pro Bowl Streak Despite The Late Start?

It’s been established that there’s no definitive answer as to when Tristan Wirfs will suit up for the first time in 2025, but we know he’ll have a late start to his sixth NFL season. And unfortunately, that could prove costly when it comes to personal accolades that the veteran left tackle was bound to be in the mix for.

Bucs RT Tristan Wirfs – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Wirfs made NFL history in 2024 by becoming the first player ever to earn First Team All-Pro honors at both the right and left tackle positions. That was his second All-Pro selection, and there’s little doubt he would’ve been vying for the third of his career in 2025. But the time he’ll miss to start the season — especially if it’s four games and potentially more — is going to make him a longshot considering how tight the race tends to be every year.

His injury will also make it difficult for him to win the first-ever Protector of the Year award, which was introduced this offseason as a way to recognize the NFL’s best offensive lineman at the end of the season. Unless he makes a John Cena pre-2008 Royal Rumble-like recovery, manages to avoid the PUP list and returns to the field quickly, he’s unlikely to be in the mix for the award this year.

With all of that said, though, maybe there’s a personal accolade he can still obtain despite the knee injury costing him some time early in the season. Wirfs currently has a four-year streak of Pro Bowl selections, and there’s still a chance he could extend that to five years in 2025. A couple of things will have to happen for that to be the case, though.

For one, Wirfs will have to return relatively quickly. Even if he does go on the PUP list, a minimal stint on the sideline and a Week 5 return could keep him in the Pro Bowl conversation. Now, when he does return, he’ll have to be his usual dominant self. It’s hard to bet against that being the case given the level of play he’s produced year in and year out since 2020. But he will have to play dominant football to at least get himself in the mix for consideration.

As we’ve seen in the past, that’s all you have to do, as making it to Orlando as a Pro Bowl alternate counts all the same. And while the Pro Bowl Games themselves have been widely panned for years, there’s still something special to the idea of Wirfs passing Hardy Nickerson and John Lynch to claim the fourth-longest Pro Bowl streak in Buccaneer history. That would then set him up for the chance to tie Lee Roy Selmon, Gerald McCoy and Mike Alstott for the third-longest streak with a sixth straight selection next season.

Let’s be real about all of this, though. Knowing the kind of person and teammate Wirfs is, he’d gladly give up the Pro Bowl streak if it meant the Bucs playing for a Super Bowl. It would be all the better if he can return quickly enough and play well enough to earn the nod from the jump just to be replaced because he and Tampa Bay are headed to Santa Clara for Super Bowl LX.