Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht is already thinking about another championship boat parade amid the official re-signing of Tristan Wirfs on Aug. 1.
“If anybody has a boat, let me know after this,” he added.
Tampa Bay threw a boat parade after the 2020 season when the team won the Super Bowl in Wirfs’ rookie year. All of the aforementioned players, except Mayfield and McLaughlin, helped a Tom Brady-led Buccaneers squad hoist the Lombardi Trophy that year, which Brady famously tossed to former tight end Cameron Brate over the bay waters.
On Thursday, Wirfs became the highest-paid current Buccaneers player, and he inked an NFL-record deal for offensive linemen. Wirfs now has a five-year $140 million deal with the team.
“I think it’s pretty cool,” Wirfs told reporters. “I don’t know that it was necessarily a goal coming into the NFL, but it’s just a lot of hard work, trying my best to come out there, and be the best teammate I can be—the best player I can be. I wouldn’t be here without all of these guys. It’s pretty cool.”
Tampa Bay drafted Wirfs No. 13 out of Iowa in 2020, and he became an immediate starter on a Super Bowl-winning team. The Mount Vernon, Iowa, native has earned All-Pro honors twice along with three Pro Bowl appearances in his young career.
“It was important to us to make sure we have Tristan as long as we can. Hopefully, he retires a [Buccaneer]. Our other goal was to make him the highest-paid athlete from Mount Vernon, Iowa, so we surpassed that,” Licht said.
Wirfs and company hope to hit on all cylinders this season after knocking on the door of the NFC Championship Game last season. Expectations for the Buccaneers plummeted after Brady’s retirement in February 2023. But the team surprised many with a third-consecutive NFC South title and playoff run.
“It’s hard not to feel great. We’ve got some great players,” Licht said. “You can’t predict what’s going to happen during the season—there are a lot of things that are out of everybody’s hands.
“We have the foundation of guys like Tristan that you build a team around—Antoine [Winfield Jr.] as well, Baker [Mayfield]—we’ve got some great players. I could keep going on and on—Mike [Evans]—I feel like I’m going to leave people out,” Licht added. “I could keep going on and on.”
Winfield and Evans played key roles in the Buccaneers’ 2020 Super Bowl win and could do so again if this year’s team can make it that far. Mayfield’s arrival in 2023 filled the void left by Brady and made the difference for the Buccaneers making the playoffs a fourth-straight year.
Tampa Bay lost a few key players from the last Super Bowl run this offseason in linebacker Shaquil Barrett and defensive back Carlton Davis. However, the Buccaneers have developed young talent, such as defensive back Zyon McCollum and linebacker Yaya Diaby.
“The Super Bowl is obviously the goal—I think that’s the goal for everybody,” Wirfs said. “[We are] just doing whatever it takes to get back there and lifting that trophy. It’s a damn good feeling, so we’ve got to do it again.”
