The Quarterback Position Is Tricky
April 27th, 2023
Strategy.
What are the Bucs to do with a quarterback?
No, Joe’s not sold on Kyler Traskfield. Joe is VERY much in the Show Me state with those two.
Yes, Joe knows caveman holdouts who ignore all the evidence that shows you need a quarterback to win.
Trent Dilfer (he won his ring *last century*) was an accident. How many Hall of Famers/Pro Bowlers did he have on defense to cover his arse? How many Hall of Famers do you see playing for the Bucs? Let’s get real.
So there are four quarterbacks, really five if you count Hendon Hooker, who folks are talking about in this weekend’s draft.
- Bryce Young will not be available to the Bucs.
- If C.J. Stroud falls to the Bucs, something is wrong.
- Joe is not feeling banana-peel-eating Will Levis.
- Joe wouldn’t touch Anthony Richardson before the third round. Yup, you read that right. Joe has to do serious, mind-altering drugs to make the mental leap that the same guy Joe saw play for the Gators is a top-10 pick. In the NFL, successful quarterbacks always have been and always will be elite because they can throw the ball, not run. (Running is nice frosting on the cake, though.)
So should the Bucs draft Hooker if he is there at No. 19? The key here is next year’s draft, which Joe is confident Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht has a pretty good grasp on already.
If Mayfield works out, awesome. He’s your next Bucs quarterback for a few years. If Mayfield doesn’t work out, are the Bucs confident they can get Drake Maye or Michael Penix in the draft next spring? Do they believe Quinn Ewers will be that guy?
(A whole lot has to go wrong if the Bucs have a shot at Caleb Williams.)
Joe doesn’t think the Bucs will stink enough, if Mayfield struggles, to be in position to draft Maye unless he has an unexpected step backward with his new offensive coordinator in North Carolina.
This has to be part of Licht’s draft strategy tonight. How sold is he on Mayfield?
Does he think the team can grab a quality rookie quarterback in the draft next year and will that guy be as good or better than Hooker?
Think about it: If the Bucs were convinced Mayfield has turned the corner, they would have signed him to more than a one-year pact while he was still on sale.
April 27th, 2023 at 12:17 pm
I can’t even think about a QB when Durable Donnie is still unsigned by any team.
When will this travesty end?
đ
DonnieWatch…….Day 51
April 27th, 2023 at 12:19 pm
This is Big Ugly year. QB is not an issue. Draft all Beef for next year.
April 27th, 2023 at 12:21 pm
Trade back .. their guy will still be thereâŚ
April 27th, 2023 at 12:23 pm
You know what I’m hoping? I’m hoping Kyle Trask, who had incredible numbers in the SEC, is going to show up and beat Mayfield. And then hand it off a bunch to White and Robinson (BIJAN) and chuck catchable deep balls to our guys Godwin and Evans. LFG!
April 27th, 2023 at 12:27 pm
Get an offensive tackle. If the top shelf talent is off the board at 19 , trade back as BucfaninTX suggests for an extra day 2 pick or a 4th rounder if the drop is only a couple of spots. Time to make some good decisions Mr Licht, knock your top 3 picks out of the park, no repeat of the 2016 draft.
April 27th, 2023 at 12:29 pm
1) Neither Mayfield or his agent would’ve agreed to a long term contract at $4 million/yr
2) The running game last year was terrible and the GOAT had one of his worst seasons as a pro- no QB will be successful with a bad offensive line.
3) Blaming ALL of it on BL is BS.
April 27th, 2023 at 12:34 pm
I’m with you Grover.
April 27th, 2023 at 12:36 pm
No QB drafting this year unless itâs in the round the Bucs have multiple picks, 6 th maybe?
Even then a big maybe!
Itâs gonna be a rough year and thatâs the bottom line.
This team is so far off from the talent on display last playoffs itâs best to not reach with any pick .
April 27th, 2023 at 12:36 pm
Of course, drafting a QB pretty much guarantees that Bowles will get an extra year
April 27th, 2023 at 12:37 pm
Hell !
We donât even have a head coach!
April 27th, 2023 at 12:38 pm
When is Ronde going to be tapped as GM ?
April 27th, 2023 at 12:38 pm
Iraâs article teaches everyone all they need to know. In recent times, 1st round QBs become franchise leaders one in four times. Then you have a mixture of backups and busts.
I like the âveteran QBâ model for the Bucs and there are still more of them out there. Take a college QB late, or as UDFA, and sign another vet. You need four in camp anyway.
Meanwhile, big, strong, ugly, toothless but smart is the mantra for tonight.
April 27th, 2023 at 12:41 pm
QB first round makes absolutely no sense. Maybe for a media guy that would get plenty of future material to work with but just to take a QB s a splash pick is ridiculous and should be fired on the spot. How can you expect a rookie QB to carry a team anyway, especially coming off an ACL. We need help and QB is not one of them. We need 2 more QB’s, so bring in Carson Wentz and off A.J. McCarron. At least they would be ready before Hooker
April 27th, 2023 at 12:41 pm
Bucs will draft Nolan Smith & use him as a hybrid LB. Eventually replacing LD. Will take a QB in the later rounds. Go Bucs.
April 27th, 2023 at 12:45 pm
Today is feeling like a long day at the airport waiting for a trans Pacific flight to beginâŚ
April 27th, 2023 at 12:49 pm
If we could get Hooker in the second I’d be fine with that
April 27th, 2023 at 12:51 pm
Joe, do you really believe Mayfield’s agent would let him sign for more than 1 year, with the Bucs, after Todd Bowles’ brilliant 1st season as head coach of the Bucs? Mayfield and his agent sees an opportunity here but may be very reluctant with Bowles as the head coach. Imo.
April 27th, 2023 at 12:56 pm
Get ahead on the potential need for a QB next season if Traskfield doesn’t work out, that way you’ve got a 3rd viable option waiting in the wings. It’s why Hooker makes sense, but even if we missed out on him DTR, Tune, or DeMorat as a 3rd QB would be fine. Let Traskfield cook in 2023, because Mayfield could be solid this year in Tampa that doesn’t guarantee we’ll bring him back and makes it possible some team out there may want to sign him away from us. I think Jason Licht has learned from putting this keys to this franchise in the hands of a rookie, and I doubt he’s eager to jump at doing that(A-GAIN) w/o some sort of competition on the depth chart.
April 27th, 2023 at 12:57 pm
I dont mind Hooker at all if thats the route we want to go….but I would rather fill other holes first and maybe take a late rounder on Stetson Bennett.
If we trade div a , plus trade back out of 19 and have two or three 2nds, and Hooker is there….its very tempting.
April 27th, 2023 at 12:59 pm
I like the sound of Quinn Ewers. Plenty of QBs. And if baker /trask suck we will be drafting higher than 19 so we will be fine.
April 27th, 2023 at 1:00 pm
We can talk after the season about the lack of respect for Trask. Maybe I will be the one eating my hat, I don’t know.
I do have some faith that it won’t be that way, but right now it is just an opinion.
I see his lack of playing time as a function of Tom Brady being around and not a fault of Trask. He took hold of an awful Gators team and almost made it mean something. No QB in this draft has done that, and it really does mean something.
April 27th, 2023 at 1:01 pm
When he shows he can match Jason Licht and builds a Super Bowl winner for another franchise and Licht retires.
April 27th, 2023 at 1:01 pm
I was on the Hendon Hooker train but woke up and changed my mind. Fill as many needs as you can and see what we have with the guys on the roster to find out if quarterback will be the top priority next year. Besides if Bowles is fired donât want him infecting the rookie. Build a team that will make it easy for a rookie to succeed
April 27th, 2023 at 1:03 pm
@ Nicholas Carson. Really hoping the same thing bro. Obviously this is a pipe dream but how awesome would that be if trask ended up being that guy n we could focus on beefing up the trenches filling holes on defense and be awesome if be got bijan offense would be dominant.
April 27th, 2023 at 1:08 pm
Slurp
April 27th, 2023 at 1:10 pm
The Buc’s will draft a qb, but not until the later rounds or sign a veteran down the road and or both.
April 27th, 2023 at 1:13 pm
I think its clear that noone is sold on Trask or Baker. Baker was brought in because he will play for pennies, and bet on himself. Expectations should reasonably be low. They already have 2 qbs competing for the starter spot, with very little investment. Why would they spend valuable draft capital for a player not likely to outperform what we have? Better to use those picks to plug holes and go buy a starting qb next year with the lure of a competent roster to surround him with. I think they draft for the offense early, and I do not feel that pick will be qb.
April 27th, 2023 at 1:14 pm
If they don’t draft a QB this year, the best case scenario isn’t for Mayfield to win the starting job and succeed. Best case scenario is for Trask to win that job and excell.
Trask will be cheaper to re-sign.
April 27th, 2023 at 1:15 pm
Craig, the Gators were awful because Mullen was awful. Trask was throwing to Pitts, Toney, Van Jefferson, Damien Pierce, all NFL players who are at least decent if not pro-bowl material. He had weapons who were considerably better than the defenders covering him. Trask didnât put anything on his back. He did take advantage of the talented guys he was throwing to, as every other good college QB does.
College performance does not correlate to NFL success, and unless youâve been to every practice like Bucs coaches and staff have, you donât know what Trask has shown. They do though. Your not knowing does not equate to Trask âdeserving a shotâ so you can see what they have. They know what they have.
April 27th, 2023 at 1:18 pm
So we don’t coach well, don’t have a QB, can’t run the ball and can’t pass pro…plus, we can’t rush the passer…I’m thinking Mr C. W. is well within reach.
April 27th, 2023 at 1:19 pm
“there are caveman holdouts who fully ignore all the evidence in front of their eyes you need a quarterback to win.”
Since I am old enough to be one of the “cavemen” lol and certainly disagree with Joe’s constant whining about the QB position I SUSPECT I’m in the group of people upsetting Joe.
I simply wish to make a CORRECTION! I could simply return the sentence…
“who fully ignore the evidence of what it takes to get a QB to win”.
I don’t believe ANYBODY denies the QB is obviously the MOST IMPORTANT position on any football team college or pro. That is not the question. The question is WHERE do those QB’s come from, what is the gamble in the draft, what are the odds that one of these QB’s in this year’s draft will truly emerge as not even a franchise QB but just a winning QB.
There’s a 2.7% chance a team will find a star quarterback outside the current first round. That’s one, on average, every four years. In those four years, 37 quarterbacks will be selected with one emerging as a successful NFL quarterback. Of those 220 drafted quarterbacks, 68 never threw a pass in the NFL. That’s 28.6%. A team is 100 times more likely to take a quarterback after the first round who never throws a pass in the NFL than it is to get a successful quarterback.
ONE HUNDRED TIMES MORE LIKELY TO FIND A FREAKING LOSER AFTER THE FIRST ROUND.
Which Joe has addressed somewhat in his constant lobbying to pick ANOTHER first round QB.
QB 57 selected 1st round 3 All Pros 5.3%
Pro-Football-Reference
That is the lowest success rate of any position but I concede that there there is only ONE QB on a team able to reach All Pro with generally 2 sometimes 3 chances at other positions.
But the numbers are UNDENIABLE. NOBODY is saying the QB is not the most important position…many of us are saying that it’s not the ONLY position!!! Many are pointing out where our successful QB’s have come from…ironically the ONLY one we drafted Joe dismissed as winning with Baltimore’s defense…I accept that point but that actually argues for us putting our chips into returning the D to it’s glory days and D selections in the draft. Perhaps Dilfer could have won with the Bucs. But it still doesn’t account for the ONLY TWO QB’s to lead the Bucs to the S.B. The Bucs did not draft either one!!! Neither Brad nor the GOAT were high draft picks…9th round and 6th round.
Now there is the legitimate argument over whether the Bucs current tandem can do it? One HAS done it before, the other has never had the chance.
I hope the Bucs just get younger and better in this draft at whatever position BESIDES QB.
Look at the arguments…they are ALL about POTENTIAL…none are the “Can’t Miss variety like Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota!
Grabbing a QB in this draft is a DESPERATE move that may not even be necessary!
April 27th, 2023 at 1:27 pm
Mark my words, Bo Nix of Oregon is gonna be a top 10 pick in next year’s draft
April 27th, 2023 at 1:28 pm
QB is not a top 5 need, but if you best available and Hooker is there, heâll be a quality pro.
The Bucs have two trophies and it was the same story both times⌠build a team, find a free agent vet QB. People forget we didnât draft Brad Johnson.
April 27th, 2023 at 1:32 pm
Quarterbacks
We already have one that was a âconsensus pre draft â to be a 1st round pick and actually was taken 1st overall.
Then there is 2 pick Trask who has not played
Folks itâs time to dig in on those two this year!
Draft to fill needs and holes in this and next years roster.
Saddle up !
April 27th, 2023 at 1:35 pm
I think the biggest factor is how do Licht and the Bucs scouts feel about Hooker?
If they are convinced he will be a plus starter in the NFL once healthy – then you have to take a chance and draft him if the “value” meets your projections for him.
Does that value lie at 19 if Hooker is available at that spot?
Is there a possibility of trading down some, getting an extra 3rd round pick and still getting Hooker later in the 1st round? If so, then that would be the best case scenario and we’d still have 3 more picks in the top 100 to fill needs….
April 27th, 2023 at 1:38 pm
Bowles needs to win now. He would not want to spend the Bucs 1st pick on a QB. He needs a dude to contribute now! If Maytrask fails this year, we could be drafting a QB in 2024 and looking for a new HC.
April 27th, 2023 at 1:40 pm
Only one QB in this draft That I like.
Will Levins
I know everyone is high on moble QBs.
I just keep watchâem spend their careers on IR.
Has a scrambling, Run threat QB won anything yet?
And no- Mahommes only runs when he has to.
He is not a designed runner- like Lamar Jackson.
NFL is different. Bigger, faster guys knocking you down- trying to hurt you.
We wasted a pick on Trask.
We have won 2 Superbowls. Both time with strong armed pocket passers.
Why dont we draft one of those??
Unless success isnt as important as being Trendy.
If Levins is there. Pickâem. If not- its a bad QB (draft) class.
Pick some bigâuns. Rebuild the lines.
Then Draft a Qb next year.
April 27th, 2023 at 1:42 pm
I’ve shifted my views on the draft / QBs over the years.
It’s a waste of an elite QB prospect if he goes to a team without talent or in the midst of the need of a big talent infusion, and/or a team with bad coaching.
I think both our roster and coaches are big question marks right now and our front office should focus on making sure those things are right. If we still had BA or an offensive coach i felt confident in, then I’d be more into the idea of drafting a QB this year.
Either way just hoping/praying for the best lol. Hoping Todd Bowles bad head coaching history is somehow a fluke. Hoping that Mayfield or Trask can be top 20-25ish starters. Hoping the defense can be top 5-10 somehow despite losing players and the Devin White crap. Hoping the O-line/run game can massively improve.
Lets go haha! Season of hope baby
April 27th, 2023 at 2:10 pm
Brother GF, preach the word. Hooker will be long since gone by the time we select. Tell truth, I’m not very good impressed with this QB class anyway.
April 27th, 2023 at 2:12 pm
If the Bucs are in a win now strategy, then why would they draft a player that wonât start, much less even play, in the first round. I donât think they would draft a QB in the first round when they have an open position at LT, no credible edge rusher on the right side and Shaq coming back from injury. Let Trask and Mayfield battle it out, pick up a veteran QB as a 3rd QB and draft in the trenches. Next year they can revisit the QB position in the draft.
April 27th, 2023 at 2:30 pm
Gotta go with OT or maybe Edge in Round 1.
April 27th, 2023 at 2:59 pm
Big. Strong. Ugly. Smart. Teeth are optional. Four hours from now. Fast is a bonus.
You draft party attendees better be on your 7th Big Storms by now.
April 27th, 2023 at 3:02 pm
None of the QBs the Bucs will have access to are better than the QBs currently on the team. Reload the OL and get a pass rush.
April 27th, 2023 at 3:22 pm
Trade down in the 1st rd draft Hooker, get an additional 2nd rd pick and draft OT and Edge or TE
April 27th, 2023 at 3:31 pm
They signed Mayfield and drafted Trask in the second round they would have to be smoking left handed cigarettes to draft a quarterback this year.
April 27th, 2023 at 3:34 pm
This year draft should focus on pass rush and offensive line
April 27th, 2023 at 3:43 pm
Party goers — success tonight is drinking Big Storm empty.
April 27th, 2023 at 4:06 pm
I love this conversation!
I can’t wait to see which QB the Bucs pick in the draft — I doubt today will be the day for that.
I do think there may be some interesting trade options as well — recent high draft picks not meeting expectation around the league….
The draft is going to be awesome
April 27th, 2023 at 4:06 pm
Desmond Ridder, Malik Willis, Matt Corral, Bailey Zappe, Sam Howell, Chris Oladokun, Brock Purdy, Skylar Thompson, Kenny Pickett
9 picks in the 2022 draft. 3-4
April 27th, 2023 at 4:13 pm
I’m a whiskey man myself GF. I’ll be sipping on JW Black. I may need his cane to get through the night.
April 27th, 2023 at 4:27 pm
No way in the 1st but you should take a qb later each draft even when you have one
April 27th, 2023 at 4:58 pm
Gotta trade back and go OT/OG. I like Dawand Jones or M. Bergeron for OT, and O. Torrence or S. Avila for OG, any of which I believe would still be available after a trade back. Also need to get another big to back up Vea. Mazi Smith or Siaki Ika would be nice. And finally, when it comes to the skill spots, speed speed speeed! Trey Palmer, Bryce Ford-Wheaton, Matt Landers are very fast, good size wr’s that can all be had in mid rounds. Not worried about edge/olb, people keep overlooking Anthony Nelson. BIG BIG mistake. I think there will be some good choices for CB and Saf in the early to mid rounds, which is where trade back picks can come in handy. If Licht can end up with 11/12 picks through trades, many spots can be addressed.
April 27th, 2023 at 5:07 pm
Not this year. Let’s see what we have.
April 27th, 2023 at 5:11 pm
St Pete. The Chiefs have been in the AFC Championship 4 years running and two super bowls to show for it. The Bills are considered to be one of the best in the league now that they have a franchise QB. Bengals have a SB and and AFC championship game the last two years after striking gold with Burrows. The Jags are now a playoff caliber team with Trevor. Every year Peyton Manning played you could pencil them in for 13 wins. Being a contender for 10 years straight and winning tons of games is what every fan wants. If that is the goal then finding that franchise guy is paramount.
April 27th, 2023 at 5:41 pm
Every year is the year to draft a QB until you have an elite one.
The position is that important. If Hooker is on the board the Bucs should draft him and if they are not feeling it with him this year draft another one next year.
The Bucs would trade their entire starting offense for Joe Burrow or Patrick Mahomes, because a great QB can win you a championship.
April 27th, 2023 at 8:22 pm
Hey doesn’t trask play well when he comes off the bench? I think I heard that somewhere and if it’s true then we don’t need to get cute and break that mold this year. Mayfield gets the go and trask gets the bench. Maybe the bench is to trask what jaboo was to Cerano in that movie Major League?
Quarterback on day 3, or grab a FA later
April 27th, 2023 at 10:03 pm
@ Lord Cornelius
Lol you’ve finally come around concerning the QB
April 28th, 2023 at 3:05 am
Whoa
Thats a whole lotta conjecture about an unknown future…