After the Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn't select a left tackle during the 2023 NFL Draft, the presumption was that star OT Tristan Wirfs would switch from the right to the left side.
General manager Jason Licht pumped the brakes on that assumption Tuesday on 95.3 WDAE radio, noting that while Wirfs moving to left tackle is the plan, things can always change as we head toward training camp.
"We certainly feel very comfortable with a person like Tristan, with his skillset and his athleticism and size and intelligence and all that, that [his transition to left tackle] is gonna be pretty seamless," Licht said on the Jay and Z show, "but that hasn't completely been etched in stone yet.
"Now we're still going to remain fluid here in the offseason. We're going to see how it goes, and we just want to make sure that we're putting the best five out there. Now he's certainly going to be one of the best five, but I just, what combination? So we feel good about Luke (Goedeke); we feel that he can do that at right tackle. But, you know, we still have time just to make sure that we're putting 'em in the right spots."
Moving Wirfs to left tackle makes sense on paper. Tampa has Goedeke, a second-round pick in 2022, able to step into the right tackle role. They don't have the same obvious transition at LT after releasing Donovan Smith. To get the best five blockers on the field means switching the two-time Pro Bowler Wirfs to the left side.
However, Licht is leaving himself some wiggle room in case things don't go well. Wirfs suggested in previous years that moving from the right side to the left isn't as easy as flipping a switch. If he struggles in camp on the left side or looks league-average, the Bucs could switch gears and move him back to where they know he'll shine -- at RT -- and figure out the rest on the fly.
So, yes, Wirfs will probably be the Bucs' LT in 2023. But there are 127 days until the season kicks off. Plenty can change over that time.
