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4 Bucs Get Pro Bowl Games Recognition

Originally posted on PewterReport.com | By Scott Reynolds | Last updated Dec 23, 2025 12:47 PM ET

Despite the fact that the second half of the Bucs’ 2025 season has been filled with too many losses and too much bad news down the stretch, the team received some good news on Tuesday as left tackle Tristan Wirfs and free safety Antoine Winfield Jr. were named to the 2026 Pro Bowl Games. Bucs cornerback Jamel Dean and quarterback Baker Mayfield were named as alternates. Mayfield made the Pro Bowl after the 2023 and 2024 seasons and became the first Tampa Bay quarterback to be named to the Pro Bowl twice.

Tampa Bay has lost six of its last seven games since the bye week to fall to 7-8 after getting off to a hot 6-2 start earlier in the season. Yet the season has gone well for both Wirfs and Winfield this season. Wirfs has played very well after missing the first three games of the season while recovering from offseason knee surgery. Winfield missed nearly half of the 2024 season with injuries, but has made a triumphant return to the lineup in 2025 and has made more plays as a result.

The nod marks the second career Pro Bowl selection for Winfield Jr. (2021), while Wirfs has now earned five consecutive trips (2021-25) in just six NFL seasons. Both players were members of general manager Jason Licht’s 2020 draft class.

Tristan Wirfs And Antoine Winfield Jr. Are Repeat Pro Bowlers For The Bucs

Tristan Wirfs, who was selected as a starter, earned his fifth Pro Bowl selection – the third-most by an offensive player in franchise history, trailing only Mike Alstott and Mike Evans (six each). Wirfs and Alstott are Tampa Bay’s lone offensive players to have earned five-or-more consecutive trips to the Pro Bowl, and Wirfs became the first Bucs player on either side of the ball to accomplish this feat since Gerald McCoy made six consecutive Pro Bowls from 2012-17.

Wrapping up his sixth NFL season, Wirfs has garnered five Pro Bowl selections, two Associated Press first-team All-Pro selections (2021, 2024), a second-team All-Pro selection (2022) and was a member of the PFWA All-Rookie Team (2020), in addition to starting on Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl LV Championship team in his rookie season.

In 2025, Wirfs has totaled 710 offensive snaps through Week 16, and per Pro Football Focus (PFF) metrics, has yielded just four quarterback hits and two sacks. PFF has credited Wirfs with a 92.0 offensive grade this season – the second-highest among any qualified offensive lineman. Additionally, his 91.0 run-blocking grade ranks sixth and his 84.6 pass-blocking grade ranks seventh across the NFL, per PFF. Wirfs and New York Giants tackle Andrew Thomas are the only offensive linemen to have earned an 84.0+ grade in all three categories this season through Week 16.

Since Wirfs was drafted in 2020, the Bucs rank second in the NFL in fewest sacks allowed per pass attempt (4.6%), in addition to allowing the third-fewest total sacks (180) during that span.

Antoine Winfield Jr., who is in his sixth NFL season, has amassed 83 tackles (four for loss), seven passes defensed, two interceptions, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, 1.0 sack and four quarterback hits over 15 games played this season. He is the only defensive back, and 1-of-3 players overall, this season with 75+ tackles, multiple interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery through Week 16.

Among safeties with 35+ defensive targets this season per the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, Winfield Jr. ranks second in lowest opponent passer rating when targeted (75.7) and seventh in hawk rate (17.9%), which measures the percentage of targets where the nearest defender recorded either an interception or pass defensed.
Since entering the league as a second-round selection in the 2020 NFL Draft, Winfield Jr. has collected a first-team All-Pro selection (2023) and was a member of the 2020 PFWA All-Rookie Team, in addition to his two Pro Bowl honors and starting on the Bucs’ Super Bowl LV championship team.

For the first time, the 2026 Pro Bowl Games will move to Super Bowl LX Week, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The event brings the league’s top players together for an AFC vs. NFC flag football showdown, coached by Pro Football Hall of Famers Jerry Rice (NFC) and Steve Young (AFC), which will preview the elite athleticism and competition of the sport ahead of its LA28 Olympics debut.

The televised event will air live from San Francisco’s Moscone Center South Building on Tuesday, Feb. 3, which will be transformed into a dynamic flag football arena. Coverage of the Pro Bowl Games powered by Verizon will begin on ESPN starting at 6:30 p.m. ET with the flag game at 8 p.m. ET. The game will air on ESPN, Disney XD and ESPN Deportes.

Information from the Buccaneers media relations department was used in this report

This article first appeared on Pewter Report and was syndicated with permission.

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