Todd Bowles: Quarterback Decision Right Around The Corner
July 25th, 2023
Bucs coach Todd Bowles.
It’s hard for Joe to believe but the final worthless preseason game will end exactly one month from the first day of Bucs training camp, which is tomorrow.
And by then, Todd Bowles will know who his starting quarterback is for the 2023 season. And so too will Bucs fans.
Bowles was asked today when he’s going to make an announcement on who wins the quarterback battle between veteran starter Baker Mayfield and 2021 second-round pick Kyle Trask.
In August, he said.
“I have a timetable in my head,” Bowles said. “It will be preseason. I’m not going to make it in the regular season.”
“I have a timeline in my head. I have my notes down. We’ve talked as an offensive staff and a coaching staff. We understand where we are going.
“They know where I am at. They know how I feel.”
Bowles needs wins. He’s not going to place his career in the hands of a guy who has thrown but nine passes in his NFL career when the other guy at least has won a playoff game and is a former No. 1 overall pick.
So for Trask to win the job, Joe believes he must outplay Mayfield. And not by a little bit, but by a considerable measure.
July 25th, 2023 at 10:04 am
BM will start, Trask comes in after the bye
July 25th, 2023 at 10:05 am
Good Grief. The suspense is killing me. LOL
July 25th, 2023 at 10:08 am
BOWLES:
“They know where I am at.”
So he’s already decided? From underwear football? LMAO
“I’m not going to make it in the regular season.”
I would hope not. LMAO
July 25th, 2023 at 10:10 am
There it is! Trask will have to be super great to even get on the field. I doubt it will happen.
July 25th, 2023 at 10:15 am
Crud, sounds like he as already anointed the guy he picked up cheap.
I also get the rumored taste of him being too dumb to make a change during the regular season, except for injury.
Kyle, buckle up buttercup, you got one chance to throw some doubt in your HC’s mind.
July 25th, 2023 at 10:17 am
Why is the Short Sack Machine here again? Can someone explain? He’s not taking us to the Super Bowl, and whether he plays well or poorly, he’s likely gone at the expiration of his one-year contract, and Trask is denied another year of development. And if you say the Bucs are not interested in developing Trask, then why is he here and why did the Bucs – with Trask the only quarterback on the roster – pass on both Will Levis and Hendon Hooker in the first round of the draft and pass on Hendon Hooker again in the second round and drafted no quarterback in any round? Nothing makes sense.
July 25th, 2023 at 10:20 am
By a lot? No. If trask, with no experience, is even with this playoff game winning first overall pick, you start trask. There is actual upside with him. You’ve seen Baker. If trask is already there, he’s got room to actually grow. Tie should go to Trask.
July 25th, 2023 at 10:28 am
@Shank
BA & Licht made it perfectly clear what the plan was for Kyle Trask after drafting him with both alluding to him sitting in both HS & at UF then shining once he got his chance as the path he’d follow as a pro QB.
The Trask v. Gabbert battle for back up is 100% fan theory and there’s been nothing un/official from the team stating Trask & Gabbert where in any competition to back up Tom Brady.
It’s universally known front offices give most draftees 3 years to adjust and translate their talents to the pro game, QB being a position that might not get that much cushion to be good with some being thrown into the fire. So for all the talk about the Bucs not being able to develop a QB, one day we might be able to look back at Kyle Trask as the one time we got it right.
The approach with him is much different than the last 3 QBs we’ve drafted being Winston, Glennon, and Freeman. All of those guys were handed the keys to our offense, and I’m kind of happy that Trask is being made to earn that right.
July 25th, 2023 at 10:29 am
Sham competition.
July 25th, 2023 at 10:33 am
So Baker starts, does he finish? Most of his career so far he has not. At some point this season Trask will most likely have to play. I don’t think Trask has ever won a direct competition, but has shined when called on. For bowles, and the Buc’s sake lets hope that proves true.
July 25th, 2023 at 10:51 am
@Mort
You make eminent sense. So the Bucs will do the opposite.
July 25th, 2023 at 10:54 am
Wolford will emerge as the surprise starter…. The suspense. LOL.
July 25th, 2023 at 10:54 am
So Bowles has already made up his mind. The QB competition was a farce from the start. Trask deserved better.
July 25th, 2023 at 11:05 am
IMHO this whole “QB Competition” is one big sham.
Baker Mayfield came here to start at QB, and that is what he is going to do.
July 25th, 2023 at 11:05 am
I wouldn’t call the pre-season games this year, worthless. Things have to shake out this time more than ever. Many new players and many in new positions. Lots to be decided.
July 25th, 2023 at 11:07 am
Bowles reference of they know where I’m at. Everyone knows he wants to win now to save his job. Can you imagine his anxiety knowing he is leaning on Baker who is a turnover machine. Feast or famine.
July 25th, 2023 at 11:09 am
I just cannot believe that any head coach in the NFL would ever rely on Baker Mayfield to save his job. He’s the primary reason LAS VEGAS, the entity that makes its living knowing such things, has predicted that we will finish last in the hapless NFC SOUTH.
Brock Purdy didn’t have more than 9 NFL passes when he was thrown into the action.
If we believe Joe in this matter we need to believe that Bowles and Licht are the only two people that believe BM is capable of leading a team to the playoffs
July 25th, 2023 at 11:24 am
Only on the internet can you type “I really love a good smoked brisket” and you’ll get replies like “this fool don’t like pork shoulder” or “this fool hates ribs cause they have bones in’em” just off one sentence it sprouts a bunch of assumptions
July 25th, 2023 at 11:40 am
Go Trask…. beat Baker!
July 25th, 2023 at 12:33 pm
It almost seems like some of these Baker haters are actively rooting for him to suck/fail. If that’s the case, I’ve got knees for you…..you aren’t a Bucs fan. Also, you will be very disappointed when the Bucs are 11-6 and sitting atop the division.
July 25th, 2023 at 1:00 pm
This is Baker’s team until it isn’t!
Trask has had some of the top QB coaches, Seasons to learn from Brady, countless times to shine and yet his coaches do not have confidence in him to take a leap of faith to roll with him…
July 25th, 2023 at 3:20 pm
Bowles needs wins. He’s not going to place his career in the hands of a guy who has thrown but nine passes in his NFL career.
@Joe I couldn’t have said it any better myself. It’s why everyone believes it’s not really a competition. Trask would have to be all world and he can’t without experience he’s not a can’t miss prospect
July 25th, 2023 at 3:26 pm
Not fully ruling out Trask.
If Trask plays/practices to a level where the Bucs cannot take him off the field, that’s a win-win for everyone. Think of when Russell Wilson was a rookie. He wasn’t expected to start but he practiced/played so well Seattle couldn’t take him off the field.
It is just unreasonable to expect, if all things are even between Mayfield and Trask, that Bowles would pick the inexperienced quarterback. Bowles needs wins. He knows it. His career could be on the line.
July 25th, 2023 at 3:51 pm
The eariest the announcement will come is after the joint practices with the Jets. Will likely be Mayfeild.
July 25th, 2023 at 4:01 pm
Just listening to players in interviews. Sounds like the decision is already made.
July 25th, 2023 at 6:04 pm
Curious how you need wins to save your career and you hitch the wagon to a QB with a losing record on his 4th team in 2 years. Vs going with the unknown commodity that the team you work for has invested very valuable draft capital, time, money and coaching. To me Trask has all the upside, the fact he only has 9 passes at the end of a meaningless game where starters were pulled is not a good reason not to go with him. If both QBs performances were similar, good or bad, the team would be in a much better position for the future if Trask played rather than if Baker played.
July 25th, 2023 at 6:18 pm
Skipped the last 2 copy and paste paragraphs. Joe, your off-season game is weak!
July 25th, 2023 at 7:04 pm
Think about whats being said here. Bowles job is on the line and Baker Mayfield is the savior?
He has no hope if thats the case, he has to go with Trask.
I would honestly go with John Wolford if my job was on the line and had to choose between Baker and Wolford and im dead serious.
July 26th, 2023 at 2:42 am
Wow another divisive Who’s gonna start article… there’s a surprise.
Next
Go Bucs!
July 26th, 2023 at 8:26 am
Trask has had 2 full years to impress the coaching staff…if he was gonna do so, he would have done so by now.
People have this idea that “we don’t know what we’ve got until we see him in a game”. That is utter BS. The fact that they did not play him in any games at all until the final game of last season says he was not doing ANYTHING in practice to make them believe that he could be any good. Knowing Brady was retiring, and Gabbert was a non-issue, if they thought Trask could be any good, he’d have played more last year.
Sorry, Trask fans.