Welcome To The Combine
February 28th, 2023
The Kyle Trask PR blitz begins this afternoon.
Shortly after noon today, Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht will pay his annual penance and step up to a podium at the Indiana Convention Center in chilly downtown Indianapolis and give his State of the Bucs address to thousands of accredited NFL media members.
Bucs coach Todd Bowles will do the same after Licht faces the klieglights of #NFLMedia.
When Licht steps up to the podium (Joe believes Licht would prefer to clean diapers than get on that podium), the public relations campaign for Trask as starting quarterback will begin.
Joe expects to hear Licht say how much the team loves Trask and how the Bucs have the utmost faith in him. And Licht will confidently explain how the Bucs can win games this year with Trask leading the way.
What Joe does not expect to hear is why Trask only wore a Bucs uniform for two games in two years and only made one appearance, mopping up for Blaine Gabbert in Week 18 last season.
Other questions Joe would like answers to when Licht faces #NFLMedia in the heart of the Midwest today:
* What about Gabbert? Last year at the combine, then-Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians told anyone who would listen how great Gabbert is and that he was the second coming of Josh Allen. Did Gabbert, in a span of a handful of weeks, tumble from valuable backup to Tom Brady and overlooked starter to being unemployable and unworthy of a job? Why and how?
* What’s up with Lavonte David? The Bucs legend, 33, is a free agent. Are his days in Tampa over?
* Same with Jamel Dean.
* Back to the Future: What are the Bucs going to do for a pass rush? Just like old times, eh?
* Rumblings are the Bucs want to bring in a veteran quarterback, ostensibly to push Trask. Is that Jimmy GQ? Is that scatterbrain Drew Lock? Is that newly unemployed Carson Wentz?
* Is Playoff Lenny secure in his job for 2023?
* Same with Donovan Smith?
* Is Licht morally opposed to drafting a running back early, since his coach and newly minted offensive coordinator want to run the ball?
* Are Mike Evans and Chris Godwin off the trade market?
By 2 p.m. the direction the Bucs are heading as an organization should be somewhat clearer.
Afterward, Licht can exhale and find a cold beverage to nurse, comfortable in the knowledge that it will be another 12 months before he gets pestered like that again. Sort of the way most people feel each April when they mail checks to the IRS. A necessary evil each spring.
February 28th, 2023 at 6:01 am
Joe’s hatred of Trask is palpable. Which is rich given that on quarterbacks Joe’s batting average hovers around the Mendoza line.
February 28th, 2023 at 6:56 am
Trask ain’t taking Bucs no where but top 5 pick
February 28th, 2023 at 7:26 am
Kyle might be a cold blooded killa. Hoping he gets a shot, and if we are lucky, us fans are due to find a franchise QB.
February 28th, 2023 at 7:45 am
English as a second language – “By 2 p.m. where the Bucs are heading as an organization when the free agency dinner bell rings in two weeks.”
February 28th, 2023 at 7:52 am
There is no downside for Licht to build up players who are on the roster….like Trask….
It would really be foolish to build up players he wants to resign Like LVD & Dean…..if he doesn’t want to resign them then he can laud over them & get them big paydays….(that will help attaining a comp pick)
I suspect Licht to pull a Leftwich…..We just want players to help our team win”
In other words…..say nothing.
February 28th, 2023 at 9:17 am
Arians hyped Leftwich….dude can’t land a job at any level. Gabbert is just another Arians guys that offers nothing but loyalty. Hopefully we at least bring in someone younger with some degree of actual success as a starter. Gabbert remains a backup after 8 yrs for a reason. If we keep Gabbert, we aren’t really trying to push Trask to earn the starting job and IMO handing out starting jobs to unproven players is what mediocre teams do.
February 28th, 2023 at 9:41 am
He’s a second round pick Licht better say all the right things about trask because otherwise it would be a bad mj Stewart like draft bust and wasted pick
February 28th, 2023 at 10:15 am
Pewter Power Says:
February 28th, 2023 at 9:41 am
He’s a second round pick Licht better say all the right things about trask because otherwise it would be a bad mj Stewart like draft bust and wasted pick
^^^^^^^^^^
Which happens every year in every draft. First round picks, top 5 picks are draft busts sometimes. It’s an inexact science.
February 28th, 2023 at 10:20 am
Licht’s body language at this combine presser will be substantially different than his body language in the 2021 presser.
February 28th, 2023 at 10:47 am
BucBoy Says:
February 28th, 2023 at 6:01 am
Joe’s hatred of Trask is palpable. Which is rich given that on quarterbacks Joe’s batting average hovers around the Mendoza line.
^^^^^^^^^
Yes Joe, BucBoy (or the other 4 or 5 names he/she has changed to) is THEE QB GURU.
February 28th, 2023 at 11:00 am
Joe in Michigan Says: “BucBoy is THEE QB GURU.”
I’m not the one who wiffed on Johnny Manziel and Jameis Winston.:P
February 28th, 2023 at 11:12 am
ButtGirl sprays another batch all over the website.
February 28th, 2023 at 11:20 am
BucBoy: I whiffed on Tom Brady himself. I thought his first year in Tampa would be like his last year. We all are wrong sometimes. I hope I’m wrong about Kyle Trask.
February 28th, 2023 at 11:29 am
Trask=3-14
February 28th, 2023 at 11:32 am
CBSSports: “I think we’re in good hands with Kyle Trask. He’s got all the size, he’s got the arm, he’s got the stature of what we like. And he’s mobile. Now, he’s not a burner, but he’s mobile enough to do some things.” – Bruce Arians
February 28th, 2023 at 11:36 am
“What Joe does not expect to hear is why Trask only wore a Bucs uniform for two games in two years and only made one appearance.”
Nor should you hear. Licht knows that everyone knows (except you apparently) that Tom Brady was in town trying to make runs to the Super Bowl.
February 28th, 2023 at 1:23 pm
Why are so many fans against competition for trask? It’s ridiculous.
February 28th, 2023 at 1:35 pm
BucBoy:
…. – Bruce Arians
The same guy that gifted Todd his job and keeps clamoring for Lefty as HC? How’s that working out? Now, surprise, he’s beating the drum for Bogo, another one of his picks. And he even called him mobile. Lol. Compared to a 45 yr old qb, but, by any metric that is not Arians’, Trask would not be in a conversation about mobile quarterbacks.
Bruce is becoming a parody of Baghdad Bob or Ivan Tell A Lie
February 28th, 2023 at 2:17 pm
May the best QB win, excited to see what Trask has and what we bring in for competition. Go Bucs!
I think we could be lucky if Trask ends up damn good, and I feel he might do just that. Excited to see him deliver the ham before the hungry bears get him.
February 28th, 2023 at 2:21 pm
I am a firm believer that you should not invest any significant draft capital or monies into a quarterback. The only quarterback I would consider taking would be with Hendon hooker if we could trade up and get them in the early third or late second. But I would make sure that we use one of our first two pics to replace guys that we are going to lose in free agency or cut because of salary cap casualty issues.
Any other quarterbacks that we sign should be signed with the idea that they would be Trask’s back up. I would rather we see what we have in Trask and let him fail and get a premier draft pick in a possible franchise quarterback, next year, then to go with a Midland quarterback this year, and have another season that goes nowhere, but leaves us with another draft pick that doesn’t give us a blue chip player.
February 28th, 2023 at 2:26 pm
Actually it’s Bucboy becoming a parody of Baghdad Bob and Ivan Tell A Lie. At least with Bruce we know why he says what he says- self consistency and legacy. Understandable.