Buccaneers Tristan Wirfs Wins Pro Football Focus' 2024 Best Pass Blocker Award

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are NFC South champions for the fourth time in as many years and now will have the pleasure of hosting the runner-up from the NFC East division, the Washington Commanders, in a Sunday Night Football matchup to open up postseason play.

The Bucs have done wonders in getting to this point, crushing free agency, the NFL draft and making the correct hires, all of which have had a lasting impact on what the franchise in Tampa Bay has become. This all started over 10 years ago when the Bucs decided to go in a different direction from a front office standpoint with Jason Licht taking over as the team's general manager.

Since becoming Bucs GM, Licht has been extremely successful, bringing the top free agent in the past century and winning a Super Bowl, but it has been his success in the draft that has prompted many to start paying attention to what he is doing.

One of those draft picks made by Licht was offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs, who quickly became one of the best linemen in the entire league. Wirfs, now a two-time All-Pro from both tackle spots, once again had another strong season in 2024 despite missing time with an injured knee which has earned him Pro Football Focus' top pass blocker of the year award.

“This season, Wirfs surrendered pressure on 1.9% of pass plays, the best rate among all offensive tackles. The gap between him and the second-placed left tackle — 1 percentage point — is the equivalent of the gap between the second player and the sixth-ranked left tackle. Tampa Bay’s left tackle gave up only 12 pressures in 2024, with 11 being quarterback hurries and one being a quarterback hit," wrote Zoltan Buday.

“Wirfs did not allow a single sack all season, making him only the second left tackle in the past five seasons to play more than 500 pass-blocking snaps and not allow a sack. He surrendered a quarterback knockdown — a sack or a quarterback hit — on 0.2% of pass plays, which ranks second to only Andrew Whitworth’s 2020 season over the past five seasons — and Whitworth played 300 fewer snaps that season than Wirfs in 2024.”

Those are impressive stats for the fifth-year former first-round draft pick out of Iowa. Wirfs has done everything the Buccaneers have asked from him and continues to not only be a positive influence on the field protecting Baker Mayfield's blindside but also within the locker room where he has become a voice of veteran leadership and a model of character for the Buccaneers' entire organization.

Wirfs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will get their 2024-25 playoffs underway when they host the Washington Commanders from Raymond James Stadium on Sunday Night Football at 8:00 PM EST.

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