The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have high expectations for themselves in the 2026 NFL regular season after badly blowing their lead over the rest of the NFC South in 2025, missing the playoffs despite being billed as Super Bowl contenders after the first eight games of the last campaign.
Tampa Bay seems to thrive more in the underdog role, which is something their spunky franchise quarterback seems to relish, too. And Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers are going into the 2026 NFL season underrated, with the NFL Top 100 list further reflecting how much the league is sleeping on them as a franchise.
While Mayfield obviously made it into the top 100 again, he got another big downgrade at rank No. 77. And only one other player on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers even made it into the top 100 at all. While that would speak to the likes of Antoine Winfield Jr. being big snubs, the biggest snub was not Winfield or any other Bucs player who missed out on the top 100, but rather the other star who made it into the top 100 alongside Baker Mayfield.
Buccaners star left tackle Tristan Wirfs was ranked No. 52, and while that would seem like a positive ranking for an offensive lineman and while he does deserve to be the highest rated player on the Buccaneers, it's actually an incredibly low ranking for a player who just might be the most valuable left tackle in the NFL.
If Wirfs were playing for any other franchise in the NFL but the Buccaneers, you would have to think that he would be getting the top 20 love that he deserves. The left tackle position is one of the most marquee in the league, and Wirfs is becoming a legend on par with stars of the past like Andrew Whitworth, Joe Thomas, and Jason Peters who were regularly getting bigger love in these sorts of ranking lists around the league.
Tristan Wirfs has been snubbed big time by the NFL, and he has to be looking at this ranking as motivation to send a wicked message to his peers this season that he is the best left tackle in all the land and easily a top 50 player in the league - and so much more than that. The Buccaneers are going to have a real chip on their shoulder next season, and Wirfs' is going to be huge, too.
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