Buccaneers May Roll with Kyle Trask and Veteran Backup at Quarterback
With Tom Brady retired, the thought was that we had one more team and one less quarterback to go around in the quarterback carousel this offseason. But according to Benjamin Allbright, Tampa Bay may be content to enter the 2023 season with Kyle Trask as QB1 and a low-cost veteran as his backup.
Trask — who will turn 25 next month — was selected by the Buccaneers in the second round of the 2021 draft.
That’s not exactly San Francisco going with Brock Purdy this season. Still, going with a quarterback that has appeared in just one NFL game in two seasons is a bold move. Trask completed 3 of 9 passes for 23 yards in Tampa Bay’s Week 17 loss to the Falcons. That’s the extent of his NFL experience.
Trask threw for 7,386 yards, 69 touchdowns, 15 interceptions, and completed 67.9 percent of his passes in 27 games at the University of Florida before being drafted by the Bucs.
Really, Kyle Trask?
Honestly, rolling with Trask and hedging that bet with a low-cost veteran isn’t a wild move. This year, at least. We’ve already seen the Commanders commit to Sam Howell, who has one NFL start. Similarly, the plan there is to bring in a low-cost veteran behind him in 2023.
Howell was taken in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft. Howell started for three seasons at North Carolina and threw for 10,283 yards, 92 touchdowns, and 23 interceptions.
Like the Commanders, the Buccaneers aren’t considered favorites for their divisions in 2023. With Lamar Jackson, Daniel Jones, and Geno Smith all getting franchise tagged or extended, the non-draft quarterback market is razor-thin. So, why overpay for a Jacoby Brissett or Jimmy Garoppolo when you can roll the dice on in-house talent?
Tampa Bay believed in Trask enough to spend a second-round pick on him just two years ago. So, why not give him a look this season? If the Buccaneers like Drew Lock as the second quarterback, he probably wouldn’t cost much. Seattle has him under contract, but he was a throw-in insurance policy for Geno Smith last year.
However, if Tampa Bay wanted to go to the open market, a veteran like Andy Dalton would make sense at a low price point.
With the quarterback market as thin as it is, I like the approaches that Tampa and Washington seem inclined to take.
