Tampa Bay Buccaneers move up in NFL draft to get OL Tristan Wirfs to protect Tom Brady – ESPN

TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers moved up a field within the NFL draft Thursday, trading with the San Francisco 49ers to variety the 13th total purchase and bewitch Iowa offensive address Tristan Wirfs.

Wirfs, who changed into as soon as no longer projected to mild be on hand on the sphere, is a versatile offensive lineman who’s anticipated to step in correct away at correct address. He’ll possess a sizable role in holding quarterback Tom Brady, who turns 43 in August.

When requested on ESPN’s telecast what he wanted Brady to snatch, Wirfs acknowledged, “I am moral though-provoking to head. I am searching at for it.”

The Bucs, like many groups, had four offensive tackles they conception of top-tier in Wirfs, Andrew Thomas, Jedrick Wills and Mekhi Becton. By the point the 49ers had been on the clock at No. 13, easiest one remained.

“We noticed that the trot on tackles took draw a dinky bit bit later than we anticipated,” overall supervisor Jason Licht acknowledged of the trade. “And then we conception that there’s an opportunity that someone could well perhaps come up and catch him.

“We didn’t wish to anxiety it. And as [coach] Bruce [Arians] says, ‘No anxiety it, no biscuit.’ And so we needed to present up a dinky bit capital to catch him, nonetheless in this case, we conception due to the the player and the draw, nonetheless especially the player, it changed into as soon as price it.”

Thomas went to the Unique York Giants at No. 4. Wills went to the Cleveland Browns at No. 10, with Becton going to the Unique York Jets at No. 11. After Wirfs, there changed into as soon as a drop-off on the draw, and there changed into as soon as talk of the 49ers shopping for a imaginable replacement for Joe Staley.

When requested if he changed into as soon as antsy when the community changed into as soon as whittled to moral Wirfs, Arians acknowledged, “To train the least. We had been getting a dinky bit frustrated nonetheless the entire lot labored out extremely properly. We didn’t possess to present up too worthy to catch that flip, and we bought the fellow we in fact, in fact cherished.”

The Bucs gave up a fourth-round purchase to pass up, with the Niners getting the Bucs’ picks at Nos. 14 and 117 in trade for the No. 13 and Tampa Bay’s remaining seventh-round purchase. It changed into as soon as the distinguished time since 2015 that no longer a single crew traded its draft slot within the tip 10 picks.

Earlier this week, the Bucs traded away their other fourth-round purchase — a compensatory option — to variety tight discontinuance Take Gronkowski.

Wirfs changed into as soon as a phenom on the NFL scouting mix, solidifying his field as one of many tip offensive tackles within the draft. He did 36.5 inches within the vertical bounce, better than many skill-draw gamers, and he ran the 40-yard lumber in 4.85 seconds — the quickest time by a 320-pound-plus player since no less than 2006.