Tristan Wirfs has done a lot in his NFL career already going into his fourth season from winning Super Bowl LV during his rookie season to become a two-time Pro Bowler and an All-Pro. Now he’s entering another frontier this fall by moving from right tackle to left tackle.

On top of that, with a re-shuffled Bucs’ offensive line featuring new players and a few veterans departing, Wirfs’ role as a leader is changing as well.

Outside of the returning Pro Bowler Ryan Jensen at center, Wirfs will have veteran offensive lineman Matt Feiler, a free agent addition this offseason, playing next him at left guard. On the other side, the Bucs are relying on rookie second-round pick Cody Mauch to hold down right guard while Tampa Bay also hopes that second-year lineman Luke Goedeke can have a smooth transition to right tackle.

Add in a crop of young reserve offensive lineman like Nick Leverett and Robert Hainsey and there are a lot of people looking up to Wirfs.

Iowa RT Tristan Wirfs – Photo by: Getty Images

Even going to back to his college playing days at Iowa, Wirfs has always been a lead-by-example kind of guy rather than a vocal leader. But that has to change this year as he has become one of the best and most respected offensive tackles in the NFL. Wirfs spent this offseason becoming a more vocal leader as his evolution as an NFL offensive lineman continues in Tampa Bay.

“I’ve really been doing my best this offseason throughout all these OTAs and throughout this mini-camp just to be a little bit more vocal,” Wirfs said on the Vikes Verified Podcast. “Because I feel like even through college, I’ve never been an extremely vocal leader. I’ve always been kind of a lead-by-example kind of guy – go almost under the radar. I feel like now it gets to a certain point where now I kinda got to take over.”

Tristan Wirfs Learned From The Leadership Of Tom Brady

Bucs QB Tom Brady and RT Tristan Wirfs – Photo by: USA Today

Not only was Tom Brady the greatest quarterback in the history of the NFL, he was also known as one of the game’s greatest leaders. The Bucs felt his leadership immediately as he helped guide the team to a Super Bowl LV win in 2020, which was his first season in Tampa Bay.

Brady’s influence on the Bucs for three years was extraordinary. And Tristan Wirfs is one of players that really learned from watching Brady lead on a daily basis.

At age 24, Wirfs is still a young player in this league. But the experiences he’s had since getting drafted by the Bucs in 2020 has made his NFL journey quite remarkable. Becoming a more vocal leader and helping to fill the void left by Brady’s retirement this offseason is just another step of that growth, and may eventually lead to him becoming one the all-time greats in Bucs history.

“We had Tom,” Wirfs said. “Tom is an incredible leader. He’s an incredible person. You could put him up there with the best leaders of all time He was very vocal. He’d bring the whole team up and give a little speech after practice. He’d bring the whole offense up.

Obviously I’m not even close to that level to do that now, but I want to say a couple things – how I’m feeling or what I’m thinking. Just how practice went –just little things. I’ve been trying to do that more. Trying to be somebody that the younger guys can kind of lean to or ask me questions about whatever. It is weird, I still feel young but going into year four, I’ve been to the Super Bowl, been to the playoffs, been to the NFC Championship, I’ve done stuff.”