The NFL Draft remains the second-biggest event in the NFL calendar behind the Super Bowl. Like it or not, it remains one of the biggest things fans and media enjoy revisiting to see “what could have been.”
Pro Football Focus has done a good job this offseason by starting a re-draft series that we have been tracking here on Bucs Wire. In their latest draft, they looked back on, it just so happens to be one of the more impactful ones in recent memory for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers franchise: The 2020 NFL Draft.
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The Bucs had signed Tom Brady, and they needed someone to protect his blindside so he could lead the team to a Super Bowl. They found Tristan Wirfs, but in this alternate reality, they miss out on him, and he ends up with the division rival Carolina Panthers.
PFF’s Trevor Sikkema explains the selection, writing, “2020 was Russell Okung’s final season in Carolina, so the Panthers find their left tackle of the future here in Wirfs. He’s been the second-most-valuable tackle in the league since being drafted, trailing only Trent Williams in PFF WAR. Wirfs has also been one of the 10 highest-graded tackles in every season of his career, despite moving to left tackle from right tackle in 2024.”
Do the Bucs win a Super Bowl without Wirfs? Debatable. While Brady makes up for a lot of holes on a team, he cannot provide his own pass protection.
This article originally appeared on Bucs Wire: Tristan Wirfs ends up in enemy territory in PFF’s 2020 NFL re-draft