Perhaps the most promising development for a Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offense that was among the NFL's best in 2024 before an injury-fueled dip in 2025, is the state of the offensive line. That crew was the driving force of the the team's offensive success two seasons ago but a wide swath of injuries meant the same five starters never once took the field together last fall.
The Buccaneers are optimistic they can run back that group from 2024 two years later. It consists of left tackle Tristan Wirfs, left guard Ben Bredeson, center Graham Barton, right guard Cody Mauch and right tackle Luke Goedeke. One little blip, however: Wirfs, the two-time first-team All-Pro, suffered a hamstring injury in a conditioning run at the start of training camp and spent about three weeks watching practice from the sideline.
Wirfs returned to limited action last week in practices in Tampa and, on Tuesday in a joint practice with the Jaguars in Jacksonville, he finally took part in full-team drills. While it's unlikely the Bucs will expose any of their starters to live action in the preseason finale on Friday, Wirfs' progress means that anticipated O-Line lineup is on track to be ready for Week One of the regular season.
One man who finds that very comforting: quarterback Baker Mayfield, who has more at stake in the Bucs' offensive line health than any other being on the planet.
"Yeah, [it felt] really good," said Mayfield of Wirfs' rejoining full-team work. "You know, obviously just slowly working him back in there, not trying to overdo it. You know, the most important thing [is] we need him for the regular season, but, yeah, definitely great to have him in there. You can tell the whole O-line when he's in there, there's a relaxing style, just the comfort that it is when he's in there. They have so many reps together, communication, obviously the caliber of player he is…But, yeah, it's great to have him back."
Mayfield got a small taste of game action on Saturday night in the Bucs' win over the Kansas City Chiefs, but the team's left tackle situation clearly altered the original plans for the night. Mayfield played just one series, threw four passes and was quickly pulled. With Wirfs, Justin Skule and Benjamin Chukwuma all unavailable due to minor injuries, undrafted rookie Paul Rubelt started on Mayfield's blind side. The 6-10 Rubelt is a promising prospect but given his inexperience it didn't make much sense to expose Mayfield to that situation for long.
Mayfield said that Rubelt, a UCF product who came to the game through the NFL's International Player Pathway program as a native of Germany, has been soaking up a lot of valuable playing time.
"Yeah, I mean, he is a giant wall, that's for sure," said Mayfield. "I definitely can't see over him – can't see over any of them, but definitely not Paul. He's been thrown in the fire for us. Obviously, 'Chuks', he got hurt as well [and] 'Skuley' had a little injury as well so Paul [is] getting a lot of reps. It's been good for him, a lot of learning experiences. To be able to have depth this early in camp at tackle is good. So, I'm just hoping they continue to improve, but I'm proud of Paul."
