Just two months after Tom Brady led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to victory in Super Bowl LV, the front office decided to select his potential successor by drafting Kyle Trask with the 64th pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Being that, after Brady, the Buccaneers only had 32-year-old journeyman Blaine Gabbert on the depth chart, adding some youth to an aging group only made sense. After all, no one knew how much longer Brady would play at the time.
It turned out that TB12 played two more seasons, but as we know, the decision to come back prior to the 2022 league year didn’t come without great debate. Brady retired and then returned 40 days later, playing the entire season. Now as we turn the page to the 2023 offseason, Brady, at the age of 45, has retired again, this time, possibly for good.
Once again, the Buccaneers are faced with finding a new starting quarterback, and chances are Brady won’t come back to rescue Tampa Bay any time soon. That once again leaves the Buccaneers with few other options on the roster. With Gabbert’s contract also set to expire, the 24-year-old Trask is currently the QB1 on the Buccaneers’ depth chart, but is the former Florida Gators star ready?
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Kyle Trask still trying to understand Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offense
One NFL insider suggests Trask has had a hard time grasping the Buccaneers’ play concepts. Specifically, Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reports Trask hasn’t been a “quick study” during his first two years in the league.
Making matters even worse is the fact that Trask will now be tasked with trying to once again learn a new offense since Byron Leftwich, the team’s offensive coordinator, and play-caller has been let go.
If Trask had trouble getting on the same page after a second consecutive year in the same system, how will he do starting from scratch once again?
To be fair, Trask likely hasn’t received a lot of reps in practice, and he’s thrown just nine passes in the NFL. It’s hard to evaluate a player’s ability to play if they can’t even get on the field, yet in Trask’s case, his future could be directly tied to his knowledge of the playbook.
With Tampa Bay’s QB situation up in the air, it’s hard to imagine Trask getting handed the keys to the offense for 2023, especially knowing that the early results haven’t exactly been positive thus far.