It’s been an expensive offseason for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but one worth every penny. The Bucs re-signed Antoine Winfield Jr., Baker Mayfield, and Mike Evans before turning around and making Tristan Wirfs the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history.
Wirfs and Winfield are now both the richest players at their position, and the Bucs went from having just one player making over $20 million to now having five. It’s more than just big spending, it’s an endorsement of the talent the team has in the locker room and a fistful of of feathers in the cap of Jason Licht.
Most teams spent the kind of money Tampa Bay did adding new players, while the Bucs brought back their own guys. That’s massive, and it’s a testament to the type of leadership the team has — something that extends beyond that core group of guys.
Lavonte David had a perfect reaction to Tristan Wirfs getting a historic new contract
Long before any of the guys who got paid arrived in Tampa Bay, Lavonte David was setting a foundation. Drafted back in 2012, David earned his stripes on some truly terrible Buccaneers teams, but never once wavered in being a leader and trying to change a losing culture.
That finally paid off in 2020 when Tom Brady arrived and the Lombardi Trophy returned to Tampa Bay. All along the common thread has been David’s leadership and he put that on full display when talking about Wirfs’ new contract.
“It does. It really does [inspire me,] man,” David said. “When I seen Tristan got his contract, I was so happy. I don’t think I’ve been happy for somebody to get, you know, [paid big] in a while.”
It got better. Not only did David lead the charge in expressing how happy the Bucs locker room is to see Wirfs get paid, he highlighted exactly why the contract is bigger than just the dollar amount.
“He’s one of those guys who just put his head down and just works. I love the way he works, loved the way he carries himself. He’s one of those guys — and I think because we’re the same zodiac sign, so me and him are similar people — but no, I was very happy, man. I came up to him, gave him a big hug and told him, ‘Congratulations, [he] was well worth it. And I told everybody, ‘If Tristan’s happy, everbody’s happy. So I’m glad [the front office] got it done.”
There’s a not-so-difficult arguement to make that David is passing the torch as the locker room leader down to Wirfs. It doesn’t take much squinting to see how influential Wirfs is, something that was seen when he threw his endorsement behind Baker Mayfield last season and helped raise his profile.
Mayfield’s game spoke for itself, but a seminal moment was when Wirfs was on The Pat McAfee Show and Spoke at length about how much the team’s identity was baked into Baker. That’s something which came back around when rumors popped up that Mayfield might leave in free agency, and gave fans confidence to believe such a thing would never happen.
Other things factored into Mayfield’s decision to stay, but a lot of credit is owed to Wirfs. It’s not hard to connect dots between the leadership we’ve seen from him and what David has done for the Bucs during his Hall of Fame career, and being able to watch the torch get passed is a luxury not all fan bases are afforded.
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