THOR'S TACKLE RANKINGS
1. Tristan Wirfs (Iowa) | 6'5/320
SPARQ percentile: 99.1
RAS: 9.74
Comp: Bryan Bulaga (
Lance Zierlein)
Wirfs is a country-strong athletic freak with potential four-position versatility. The former Iowa state champion high school wrestler ranked No. 1 on Bruce Feldman’s Freaks list last summer and then had one of the most dominant NFL Scouting Combine showings we’ve ever seen from an offensive lineman, breaking the position record for the vertical jump (36.5”, better than
CeeDee Lamb and
Jerry Jeudy’s showings) and tying it for the broad jump (10’1).
Iowa shifted Wirfs to LT without issue in-season last year to cover for
Alaric Jackson’s injury before shifting Wirfs back to RT when Jackson returned. Iowa HC
Kirk Ferentz said Wirfs only spent most of his career at RT because Jackson happened to get installed at LT first. “He can do both,” Ferentz said of Wirfs. “I think you could play him probably anywhere but center, and he probably could do that if you gave him some time. You play a guy like that inside, he’s basically going to kill guys. He’s a dominant player that way. Me personally, I would play him at tackle if I was still in the NFL.”
In 2017, Wirfs became the first Hawkeye freshman to start at tackle for
Kirk Ferentz.
Brandon Scherff, Riley Reiff, Bryan Bulaga and Robert Gallery didn’t. Speaking of Scherff, Wirfs shattered his old school record in the power clean with four reps at 450 pounds. We talk about fluidity in terms of movement – that’s fluidity in the power department. And here’s the crazy thing: Scherff set his school record as a grizzled fifth-year senior. Wirfs broke it in the months following his 20th birthday party.
Once Wirfs gets his hands on a defensive end, he’ll drive him into the upper deck if the refs forget to blow the whistle. In pass pro, Wirfs confidently leans on his athletic tools, setting a nice base, shuffling his quick feet with mirror steps, using sledgehammer arms to punch holes in chests and stall the engines of edge rushers, and dropping a cruise ship anchor. Because Wirfs is a little shorter for a tackle. Skyscraper edges can give him trouble. When a long end can keep Wirfs on the outside, it has the effect of playing down both his natural movement and strength skills.
He’s quick and nasty, accelerating into his man in the run game with speed and force. When he gets those meat cleavers into your chest and pumps you full of electricity, you go backwards, sometimes, you end up on your back. One area to work on is second-level blocking. Despite his experience and athleticism, Wirfs sometimes looks awkward in space, taking bad angles and arriving upright. This is a correctable quirk, and he’s gotten better at playing lower in general.
Heading into last year, Wirfs was an amalgamation of all-world tools that he hadn’t completely put together yet. His 2019 campaign gave a great indication of where he could be headed as an NFL player. Wirfs’ PFF grade improved from 74.8 to 91.3 (No. 4 nationally among tackles). He’s shoring up his weaknesses quickly, and heads into the NFL confirmed to be one of the great tackle athletes the league has ever seen.
Thor Nystrom breaks down the top tackle prospects in advance of the 2020 NFL Draft.
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