Tristan
Wirfs.
Tristan
Wirfs.
Iowa· 6'5"· 320 lb· 4.85s 40
"A 320-pound tackle who moved like a heavyweight wrestler and posted the best athletic testing of any lineman in the class — Tristan Wirfs was the safest bet on the board to start on day one and never leave the field."Pre-draft read
Wirfs plays with the balance of a much smaller man. He fires out of his stance, hits his landmarks in the run game and finishes blocks with genuine violence, generating movement on down blocks and reaching second-level defenders on the Iowa outside zone. His lower-body power is exceptional and the recovery is immediate.
In protection he sets with short, controlled steps rather than huge kick slides, absorbs bull rushes with a strong anchor and resets his hands quickly when a rusher gets inside. Speed around the corner is the one thing that has occasionally forced him to overset, and he can get grabby when a pass rusher wins the edge. He played mostly right tackle at Iowa but slid left when asked, so the tools travel.
Outside-zone running game paired with play-action protection, where his movement skills and anchor both matter
Year 1 starting right tackle in a zone-run offense; ceiling is a perennial All-Pro blindside protector
A pure vertical-set, deep-drop passing offense that leaves him isolated against elite speed rushers on an island with no chip help
The athletic profile means no protection scheme is off limits; the only adjustment is refining his hands against bend
Tristan Wirfs || Iowa Hawkeyes Offensive Line || 2019 Highlights
Junior-season cut-up of the run-game movement and finishing.
Tristan Wirfs (Iowa) All 22 Film || 2020 NFL Draft
All-22 breakdown of his pass sets and anchor.
Tristan Wirfs pass protection
Isolated pass-protection reps against Big Ten edge rushers.
Wirfs is the cleanest offensive line evaluation in the 2020 class: an athletically absurd, technically sound, three-year Big Ten starter coming out of a program with a long record of producing NFL linemen. At 6-5 and 320 pounds he posted a 4.85 forty, a 36.5-inch vertical and a 10-foot-1 broad jump at the combine, numbers that would be strong for a linebacker.
The tape backs it up. He appeared in 34 games across three seasons at Iowa, becoming the first true freshman to start at tackle in the Kirk Ferentz era, then starting every game he played as a sophomore and starting all 13 games as a junior, including ten at right tackle and three at left. In 2019 he was a consensus All-American, first-team All-Big Ten, and the Rimington-Pace Offensive Lineman of the Year in the conference.
The questions are small ones. He has more right-tackle reps than left, his hand placement drifts when he is reaching, and elite bend-and-speed rushers can pull him upright off the edge. Iowa's pro-style attack limited his volume of true dropback protection. But the floor is a long-term starting right tackle with Pro Bowl athleticism, and the ceiling is a franchise left tackle. Tampa Bay traded up one spot to take him thirteenth to protect Tom Brady.
- 01
Rare athletic testing
A 4.85 forty, 36.5-inch vertical and 10-foot-1 broad jump at 320 pounds, the best tackle testing profile in the class.
- 02
Anchor against power
Absorbs bull rushes without giving ground and resets his base immediately when a rusher tries to convert speed to power.
- 03
Run-game movement
Generates displacement on down blocks and climbs to linebackers in Iowa's zone scheme without losing his balance.
- 04
Three-year starter
Started as a true freshman under Kirk Ferentz and never came off the field, earning consensus All-America honors in 2019.
- 05
Positional flexibility
Started ten games at right tackle and three at left tackle as a junior, so either side of the line is realistic.
- 01
Edge speed rushers
Can overset against a true bender and gets grabby once a rusher clears his outside shoulder on the way to the quarterback.
- 02
Hand placement drift
Punches wide on reach blocks, which allows defenders to work across his face and creates holding penalty risk.
- 03
Limited dropback volume
Iowa's run-heavy, play-action attack gave him fewer true pass sets than tackles from spread programs in this class.
- 04
Left tackle sample
The majority of his college snaps came on the right side, so a blindside move requires projection rather than tape.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.85sp50
- Vertical
- 36.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 121inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.65sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.68sp50
- Bench
- 24repp50
| Yr | Team | G |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Iowa | 9 |
| 2018 | Iowa | 12 |
| 2019 | Iowa | 13 |
| Career | — | 34 |
Games from Sports-Reference including bowl games (9+12+13 = 34). Iowa's official bio confirms 13 starts in 2019 (ten at right tackle, three at left) and that he was the first true freshman to start at tackle in the Kirk Ferentz era; his exact 2017 start total is not published, so it is left blank rather than estimated. He missed the 2018 opener while suspended.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Immediately reliable right tackle with a high floor, clean technique and long-term starting value.
Freakish athlete at tackle who dominates in the run game and becomes a perennial All-Pro on the blindside.
Solid right tackle whose run blocking outpaces his pass protection against premier edge speed.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Wirfs is the best player in this draft class, full stop. He started every one of the 93 regular-season games he has played through Week 2 of 2026, plus nine postseason contests, won Super Bowl LV as a rookie right tackle, and made five straight Pro Bowls from 2021 through 2025. He was AP first-team All-Pro at right tackle in 2021 and again at left tackle in 2024, becoming the first player in NFL history to earn first-team honors at both tackle spots, with a second-team nod in 2022 in between. Pro Football Focus graded him the second-best offensive lineman in football in 2025 behind only Penei Sewell, and he allowed two sacks across 777 snaps at left tackle that year.
The move from right to left after Donovan Smith's departure in 2023 was supposed to be a risk. He made it look like a formality. He has played through a knee issue during the 2026 season and is still grading out sixth among all tackles in pass blocking. Tampa Bay moved up one spot for a tackle to protect Tom Brady and instead landed a decade-long cornerstone who has outlasted three quarterbacks. In a draft class where the top ten produced busts at cornerback and quarterback, the pick at thirteen was the one that never needed a second look.
Data note: from Indianapolis via San Francisco