Buccaneers Star Offensive Tackle Ready to 'Take Over' For Tom Brady

With a leadership void left from Tom Brady's departure, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will need a new leader in the lockers.

Kade Kimble | Jul 13, 2023

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tom Brady brings a winning culture and a commanding presence. Such can be proven with his Super Bowl win in his first season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It wasn't a New England Patriots culture thing. It was a Tom Brady thing.

While Brady ultimately brought a winning culture and brought a Super Bowl trophy to Tampa Bay, there's now a leadership void within the squad needing to be filled. Offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs is ready to take that role for the team, which he said on the Vikes Verified podcast.

“Tom is an incredible leader and incredible person,” Wirfs said on the podcast. “I would go to battle for Tom. He did a lot for me. My first couple of years in the league, it helped with the way I looked up to him, and the way he looked out for me was incredible. I’d be forever grateful for that.”

Wirfs is a rising star, and to have been able to learn from and block for Brady absolutely helped his career trajectory, and now, at 24-years-old, the two-time Pro Bowl tackle is ready to take over as a leader for the Buccaneers.

“I’m not even close to that level but I want to say a couple of things of how I’m feeling or what I’m thinking. Just the little things [are what] I’ve been trying to do more,” Wirfs added. “I’ve been 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.”

Most of the time, a veteran quarterback would take over the role, but the Buccaneers are amidst a quarterback battle from two journeyman quarterbacks in Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask, and the future of the position is so unclear. So, it makes sense for somebody else to step in and become a vocal leader.

"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 kind of got to take over," Wirfs said.

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Published Jul 13, 2023

KADE KIMBLE

Kade has been covering a wide variety of teams ranging from the NFL to the NBA and college athletics since joining Sports Illustrated's FanNation in 2022.