Whenever a trade is trying to be figured out or discussed in the NFL, the value of a player is always up for debate. While the team trading away the player will often increase their value, the team trying to acquire them will always try to reduce it, just to save a little bit.
Whenever analysts offer their idea on a trade value, it can come with a mixed bag of results.
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ESPN’s Bill Barnwell took a chance at predicting trade values for each team’s best players. For the Bucs, he examined the trade values of both Tristan Wirfs and Antoine Winfield Jr. While Wirfs will be discussed at length, Winfield Jr. will be addressed briefly. When it comes to the All-Pro safety of the Bucs, he would get at least one first-round pick in return if the team were to try and send him away.
Of course, they aren’t entertaining trade requests for their star defender, but what about the value of Tristan Wirfs?
Barnwell writes that Wirfs would be worth at least two first-round draft picks. He explains his value for the All-Pro tackle, saying, “Wirfs was the league’s best left tackle as a 25-year-old last season, and although he has the largest average salary on a multiyear deal for any lineman, $28 million a year for him feels like a bargain when Dan Moore Jr. landed $21 million per season in free agency. The only red flag here is a knee injury that required arthroscopic surgery earlier this month. Assuming he returns from the injury and looks the way he did in 2024, the price tag might stretch all the way to three first-round picks if we do this exercise again next year.”
Wirfs is not likely to ever be appreciated as much as he should outside of Tampa Bay. He is the only player in NFL history to be voted to an All-Pro at both left and right tackle, and yet he is still underestimated and valued.
Maybe when Madden gives him a 99 overall, the rest of the league will catch up.
This article originally appeared on Bucs Wire: Analyst puts trade value on Bucs’ Tristan Wirfs and others