The Buccaneers received some unfortunate news on Wednesday morning as Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reported that star left tackle Tristan Wirfs will miss some time to start the 2025-26 season after undergoing surgery on his right knee.
The Bucs will start the season without All Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs, who underwent surgery on his right knee Tuesday and will likely miss at least the first couple games of the regular season. Wirfs aggravated a right knee injury in the offseaon that forced him to miss only…
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) July 9, 2025
It’s a big loss for the Bucs offense as Tristan Wirfs is arguably the team’s best offensive player and you might be able to make a case he’s their best player on the team overall.
Fortunately, this was done still in the offseason so Wirfs hopefully won’t miss too much time in the regular season, but it’s still going to be a challenge replacing him.
#Bucs All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs is a strong candidate to start year on PUP after undergoing a knee scope, per sources.
Wirfs wants to get this done now so he can be available for much of the season. @NFLSTROUD first on the news. PUP would cost him at least four games. pic.twitter.com/kLiCi3O9G6
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) July 9, 2025
As far as who could replace Wirfs, the Bucs signed veteran tackle Charlie Heck in the offseason and he figures to have a good shot at being that guy. Heck split time with the Cardinals and 49ers last season where he started two games. He has 23 starts in his career.
Hopefully this is something that has been taken care of and not a thing that could linger on and cost the all pro left tackle more time. We will see when Wirfs is back but for the start of the season, the Bucs are going to have to roll without him.