Offensive tackles Benjamin Chukwuma, Silas Dzansi, Garret Greenfield and Raiqwon O’Neal aren’t household football names.
That’s because they haven’t taken snaps in real NFL games, but they are on the Bucs roster and in a spotlight now that Tristan Wirfs has a significant knee injury.
Wirfs will miss at least one game and maybe four after knee surgery yesterday.
A guy who gushed about the Bucs’ starting offensive line this month but also blasted the team for miserable O-line depth, ex-Jets personnel chief Pat Kirwan, went back for another shot at the Tampa Bay backups this afternoon on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
A “radical depth issue” in Tampa, Kirwan barked. “They have Charlie Heck behind [Wirfs], and nothing behind him. That’s scary.”
Kirwan had orders for Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht and slapped around journeyman Heck signed in March.
“You better be jumping on a veteran guy, and you better be getting a guy in there that can just actually replace Charlie Heck when everyone’s settled down and Wirfs is back,” Kirwan said. “Hopefully, you found an older veteran that can come in here and replace Heck as the backup guy. … Nothing against Charlie, but sorry, Charlie.”
Joe can’t spin a loss of Wirfs to be trivial. The guy is an All-Pro in his prime. However, Kirwan needs to take a deep breath.
This is not a season-ending injury to Wirfs. In fact, Wirfs has missed time in three of his five NFL seasons. Plus, as Joe wrote, Licht has a track record of identifying quality backup linemen.
There’s plenty of time for the Bucs to assess Heck further, comb the streets and make a sound decision.
Remember, Licht pulled a starting tackle and a starting center off the street in the summer of 2015. The Bucs proceeded that season to have a punishing run game and sent their starting quarterback to the Pro Bowl. That summer situation was far more dire than the Wirfs recovery.