Tom Brady’s absence from the NFL now shines a light on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ quarterback room, a question they were not ready to answer
TAMPA, F.L.– A somber hue sets over Tampa Bay on February 1st. Just as much as the citizens of Boston are mourning the peaceful end of Tom Brady’s career, the folks in Tampa are doing the same.
Brady’s departure from the league comes at an interesting time, one where the team didn’t seem to have a contingency plan in place for his abrupt announcement. Brady has been invaluable to the Buccaneers in his 3 years playing for the team, making the playoffs all three years and winning the Super Bowl in 2020. Now that his time is up in Tampa Bay, it drives a light on a quarterback room in the Sunshine State that isn’t very bright.
The simple option, and one that’s glaring at us in the face is to stick to the roster. A next man up mentality. That leaves Kyle Trask, the only quarterback on the roster as of February 2nd. Vested veteran Blaine Gabbert is set to hit the open market and it’s hard to see Tampa using Gabbert as a long term option at 33 years old.
Trask was a 2021 rookie out of the University of Florida drafted in the 2nd round. A high slot for someone who the Buccaneers wouldn’t want to try out at QB. Trask ended up finishing the 2022 season completing 3-of-9 passes for 23 yards and a first down. While not getting full game reps, Tampa may give Trask the opportunity to play given his high draft status and the fact that he sat behind Brady for two years. A draft and developed style quarterback, the Buccaneers might hop to see similar results from him as Jimmy Garoppolo from Brady’s time in New England.
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Last season, Buccaneers quarterback coach Clyde Christensen was reluctant to name Trask the backup behind Tom Brady, instead opting for Gabbert as a more experienced option.
“I see Gabbert being a backup and Kyle being a developmental guy, and we’ll rep them that way,” Christensen said. The key word being developmental, who knows if Trask’s two seasons underneath the greatest of all time was enough time for all of Brady’s knowledge and skill to marinate in Trask’s head.
Starting Trask would be an intrepid move by Tampa Bay, one that seems possible, but maybe not plausible. A retiring Tom Brady allots the Bucs a substantial amount of cap money, one that could be spent in bringing in a quarterback from either the market or the draft– however, Tampa’s absence of a offensive coordinator as of now makes it hard to decode exactly what route the team intends to take.
If you look towards free agency, the answers look rather bleak. Jimmy Garoppolo stands out as an option– but that decision is contingent on an offensive coordinator. Daniel Jones and Geno Smith also look like enticing targets, yet the Giants and Seahawks will look to retain those two and ink them to larger contracts.
Players who don’t demand a king’s ransom come along the lines of Sam Darnold, Jacoby Brissett, Teddy Bridgewater, and Andy Dalton. Yet, again, without an offensive play caller or scheme developer, your guess is as good as ours. Anything else would be a simple shot in the dark. Baker Mayfield also is slated to hit the free market, and his time in Los Angeles has been impressive, but the question stands if he’ll demand a contract too big for the Buccaneers to take on. Or will he accept a role as a “prove-it” quarterback and attempt to squeeze into the role that Tom Brady has left wide open?
A big question mark comes in the form of Aaron Rodgers, who seems like a long shot as the Packers have stated that they wouldn’t trade Rodgers to an NFC team but also given the Bucs’ finances– Rodgers isn’t in their price range to request a trade.
Going to the draft seems even more hopeless, as the Buccaneers 19th pick seems too late for the team to select a quarterback worth a first round pick. All four QBs that are worthy of a first-round selection by consensus are projected be taken off the board well before Todd Bowles could even take a whiff. That includes Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, Will Levis, and Anthony Richardson.
Richardson by nature might be a tossup to get to 19, but it’s a risky to bet to hedge, one not worth the risk. Speaking of risks, the next best choice would be a quarterback in later rounds, but those have never proven to be consistently excellent options, especially with limited cap space to build a team around. If we were gamblers, that’s not a bet we’d go all in on.
The Bucs have plenty of other holes on the team, ones that almost capsized their pirate ship last year. A big-time quarterback is not on the ledger for the team, and must make do with the options they have now. It’s too late to say mea culpa, but instead must sleep in the bed they made.
