26 July 2023 , 23:44
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Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht suggested on Wednesday that Baker Mayfield has yet to nail down the team's starting quarterback job. Kyle Trask could leapfrog the ex-Cleveland Browns passer for the role with a strong training camp.
The Buccaneers signed Mayfield as a free agent after Tom Brady retired following last season's playoff loss to the Dallas Cowboys. However, they already had Trask stashed on their depth chart from the 2021 NFL Draft. Licht indicated that competition between the players would help everyone ahead of the new campaign.
"One thing I'm looking forward to is - this is really the first time since I've been here, and I'm going on Year 10 - of a true quarterback competition," Licht said. "One thing I'm looking forward to is just how hyper-focused we're going to be in those practices here at the beginning of camp for the first few weeks, at least. Just to see who takes the next step forward.
"People can have in their head, 'Well, it seems like it's for sure going to be this person or it's not going to be this person,' but until we're out there, anything can happen. It's going to be a lot of fun just to really focus on how this is going to play out."
Earlier this week, head coach Todd Bowles offered a similar view of the quarterback situation. He avoided committing to Mayfield or Trask as training camp opened.
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Mayfield is the more experienced option, having thrown 102 career touchdowns in 72 games as the first-overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft. But the Buccaneers are intrigued with Trask's upside and feel he deserves a legitimate NFL opportunity after sitting behind Brady for the past two years.
"Like I said, I've got a timetable in my head," Bowles said. "Obviously, it will be [decided in the] preseason — I'm not going to make it in the regular season. I have a timeline in my head, I've got my notes down. We talked as an offensive staff and as a coaching staff and we understand where we're going. They know where I'm at and they know how I feel, so we'll go with that."
Regardless, Bowles has emphasised that Tampa Bay have enough talent elsewhere on the roster to make a playoff push, even as the coach admitted losing Brady impacted the mood of the locker room.
Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask split reps in OTAs and will both continue to get snaps with the first team in training camp (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)"When you replace a player of that magnitude, first of all, you don't replace him," Bowles told NFL Network. "You lose aura. You lose the expectation of being great. That doesn't mean you can't be great. You just have to do it more as a team."
"We did it as a team when he was there, but he was such a great player and a great person that you focus all on that. And now that that is gone, the perception is that everything else is gone when really it isn't."