Former NFL GM Thinks Bucs Could Be Players For A QB Before Season
July 27th, 2023
“It’s too early, John.”
Joe is confident Baker Mayfield is your Buccaneers starting quarterback for 2023 unless Kyle Trask continues to practice and play (in scrimmages and worthless preseason games) like he did yesterday’s abbreviated session.
Outside Tampa, it is almost universal that no one believes Mayfield (or Trask) is the answer at quarterback.
Former Titans and Vikings shot-caller Jeff Diamond, typing for The33rdTeam.com, believes the wheels are in motion for a name quarterback to be moved.
With the apparent recovery of 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy from his messed up elbow suffered in the playoffs last year, Diamond doesn’t think it is crazy that John Lynch and San Francisco are shopping former first-round pick Trey Lance.
And Diamond believes the Bucs ought to be in the mix because, well, Mayfield. You can read about it here.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Atlanta Falcons or Washington Commanders all have questionable quarterback situations with Baker Mayfield … as projected starters. All three teams can easily afford Lance’s minimal base salary this season.
Joe doesn’t deny the lure of Lance from the outside. However, Joe thinks this is all premature.
What if Mayfield (or Trask?) ball out under new Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales? Joe has long believed if the Bucs hit on rehabilitating Mayfield, he is the quarterback of the future.
Yeah, it would want to think crazy and believe Trask suddenly blossoms this year into the 2023 version of Purdy, then the Bucs would be quickly giving up on a starter there, too.
If Mayfield and/or Trask struggle, then yeah, Joe could see the Bucs being intrigued by Lance.
But why spend to get someone else’s expiring leftovers when you can build your own young quarterback like Caleb Williams (#CollapseForCaleb), Drake Maye, Michael Penix or Quinn Evers?
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July 27th, 2023 at 10:05 am
Devin White for Stafford would be ideal.
July 27th, 2023 at 10:07 am
No, it’s too late and we’re too far into Mayfield and Trask battling it out. Not only that, but we’d be asking our year 1 OC to fast track a player coming back from injuring himself at the tail end of the first offensive playbook install. No, it’d be messy and overkill.
July 27th, 2023 at 10:10 am
Ya lets put him behind the worst line in football, what could go wrong?
July 27th, 2023 at 10:13 am
Um, okay.
Mayfield played better in LA than Stafford with a worse line and 3rd-4th string receivers. The 50 million owed Stafford guaranteed ensured Mayfield couldn’t last in LA past last season (if he didn’t want to sit behind Stafford)
Trey Lance would be a downgrade from Mayfield–and possibly Trask. I’m saying this as someone who follows Bucs, Niners, and Mayfield closely. Lance is a project, that Shanahan (Shanahan!) couldn’t complete… I doubt Bowles could do what Shanny could not…
July 27th, 2023 at 10:17 am
During his abbreviated 2022 playing time, Lance showed ZEEEERRROOOO ability to do anything other than be a good running back
July 27th, 2023 at 10:19 am
Ewers from Texas auto correct gets us all and Nix Jefferson Travis are all possible 1st round depends on this yrs performance
July 27th, 2023 at 10:21 am
“Former” shot-caller. Former. Opinion is about as useful as ours.
July 27th, 2023 at 10:23 am
The Bucs guaranteed aren’t considering this…..the only new QBs the Bucs would bring in is for camp meat and gameday street clothes QBs……
Is Ryan Griffen still on the team? I thought the Bucs resigned but I’ve only seen Wofford out there
July 27th, 2023 at 10:24 am
We need to go with what we have……..everyone but Bowles is willing to sacrifice this year to achieve the long-term QB goal……unfortunately in that regard, our defense will probably be good enough to win games and put us out of the QB running.
July 27th, 2023 at 10:24 am
If Lance is so wonderful, why aren’t they keeping him? Yeah, I know about Purdy. Anyway, I agree with whoever said that it is too late. If this QB experiment does not work out, and I think they should give it a whole season, then shop around or draft in 24.
July 27th, 2023 at 10:28 am
The Bowles cleaner seems, to me, like the kind of guy who thinks any experience is better than no experience.
Trask might have more upside, but it is an uphill battle for him, unless Baker hurts himself.
Even further up hill is the possibility of Licht accepting that he was wrong with Baker and trade for any QB. He did that for Woolford. He would lose face if he did that and he has too much ego for that.
If Baker does get anointed, I hope some has enough brass to sit him when it rolls back down.
July 27th, 2023 at 10:32 am
It seems like both Trey Lance and Zach Wilson could easily be available for a not so high draft pick.
We would just have to decide if their salaries are a bargain. Typically, rookie quarterback salaries are not bad deals. However, as high as these guys were taken (top 10) you are essentially committing a lot of money to a guy that so far in the NFL has not shown much potential (or at least ability to recognize defenses).
Remember if the Bucs got either guy, they would have to commit to the 5th year option on May 3rd of 2024. So, with just a few games under their belt as a Buc, the Bucs would either have to guarantee that 5th year or know that the QB was playing out his contract in the 2024 season.
July 27th, 2023 at 10:40 am
Caleb Williams would be the Bucs best route, but he is also the strong favorite to be the top pick in the draft next year. The Bucs are probably going to win 5 or 6 games because they have some outstanding players on the roster.
Bucs will most likely be picking in the top 10 (mybookie .com has the Bucs as the 5th most likely team to have the #1 overall pick behind the Cardinals, Rams, Raiders and Texans) and will have to trade up to have a shot at him.
July 27th, 2023 at 10:43 am
Kyle Trask is gonna surprise all of the Negative Nellies before this season is over. I wouldn’t even be surprised to see him get the starting nod for Game 1.
And so will this Bucs TEAM. We don’t have the depth that I’d like, but if most of our starters can stay reasonably healthy we can win have a winning record and win the NFC South.
July 27th, 2023 at 10:46 am
No thanks… John Lynch is a solid GM but he made a huge mistake drafting Lance.
Let’s just roll with who we got unless there is an injury.
July 27th, 2023 at 11:00 am
Defense Rules Says:
“Kyle Trask is gonna surprise all of the Negative Nellies before this season is over.”
That’s what I am hoping for.
“I wouldn’t even be surprised to see him get the starting nod for Game 1.”
I would! I don’t believe for a second that Bowles will let that happen. I think Mayfield could look horrible before the start of the season, and Trask could look amazing…and Mayfield will still get the nod.
Honestly, that’s probably a good idea for the first 5 games at least.
July 27th, 2023 at 11:03 am
Nothing will stop The Bowles Curse.
July 27th, 2023 at 11:03 am
Reasons this trade will not happen:
1 We have under a million in cap space
2 The entire team has prepped with the expectation of Mayfield starting (even if it should be Trask). They are not going to make a move like that unless they are forced to for some reason.
3 Jason Licht won’t want to do it.
July 27th, 2023 at 11:05 am
HC Grover Says
“Nothing will stop The Bowles Curse.”
All curses can be broken. I laughed in the face of every curse I’ve ever had to put down.
If the Bucs ever fall under a curse again, they need to call me.
July 27th, 2023 at 11:15 am
So…;just to play advocate…
What to expect if Trask wins the starting role:
With his lack of experience, he will struggle out of the gate. This would likely have fans screaming for his head…but if the team has the strength to stay with him through the struggles, we will see what he is truly capable of by end of season. At some point, he should start clicking.
However, as I said, pressure will build to switch to Mayfield…not that he would do better.
The better alternative:
Let Mayfield start. He’ll be playing behind a strung-together line that will take time to gel, and that will result in lots of pressure and hits for the QB. The team is better off letting Mayfield take those hits until he gets injured…or until the bye-week.
At that point, the losses will have started to pile up and the team will have nothing to lose by putting in Trask.
Trask will have low expectations…after all, if he does poorly, we get a high pick…if he does great, he’s the hero and our QB for a few years.
If he starts because Mayfield is injured, the Bucs will have to sign another QB. It will be someone with experience, but no chance of being good.
July 27th, 2023 at 11:18 am
Yes I wouldn’t count Trask out just yet. Remember he has a history of overcoming his situations. He’s been counted out on a couple of occasions in getting this far yet somehow has risen to the occasion and succeeded before. (This would make Jason Licht look like a genius). Go Bucs!
July 27th, 2023 at 11:25 am
HC Grover Says:
July 27th, 2023 at 11:03 am
Nothing will stop The Bowles Curse.
^^^^^^^
Habitual Complainer: Why do you constantly have sand in your m@ngina?
July 27th, 2023 at 11:26 am
He hasn’t seemed very ready but does have the talent, the same thing was true for josh freeman. As long as the asking price is low why not
July 27th, 2023 at 12:11 pm
I just can’t see the FO dealing away a core cog for anyone of substance or being willing to cut anyone of substance to create the cap space needed to get a legit QB. Just can’t see that a happening. Scrap heap low dollar cast-off, maybe…If Bucs QB room sustains an injury in camp.
I believe the Licht Plan is to roll dice that the Baker/Traskcan/Woeful combo will give the Bucs a shot at repeating against a weak NFC South…But regardless, the next franchise face will come from the 24 draft class…As, there will not be bad slot to keep you from getting a good rookie QB to build around for the future.
The 2024 QB draft is deeper than any class I have seen in at least 4 decades.
C.Williams, Maye, Penix Jr., Ewers, Pratt, McCarthy, Hartman, Nix, Travis, Leonard, Daniels, Rattler, A. Reed, Leary, Jefferson, Sanders, Dart, Schlee, Ward & Milton….At MIN – 10 will go by end of Day2 & All 20 have legit chances to hear their names called by the end of Day3.
It will 100% be the Yr of the QB…And every scouting department in the league will be focused on how to slot the above…1-2 may be real easy to imagine…but 3-20 is a crap shoot at this point.
2024 QB FA will be fun to watch, as well…As I think we will see less teams willing to throw buckets of loot at the position next spring, knowing the above class offers rookie coin QB’s a plenty.
July 27th, 2023 at 12:13 pm
Lance is a bust. An over-hyped run-around quarterback with a QBR in the 30s. We already have one.
July 27th, 2023 at 12:15 pm
I will pass, I do not see Lance as any upgrade as he barely played a season of college football unless it was a late pick .
July 27th, 2023 at 12:16 pm
Since Lance has proved nothing in the NFL yet, you’d like to think you could get him for a 3rd rounder. Also, who knows what their internal evaluation was on him when he came out. Just because he was a high pick doesn’t mean everyone thought he would pan out as a pro… So, without knowing what their evaluations were/are, it’s kinda pointless to speculate. I mean, if he’s not any better than Mayfield, why would you do it?
July 27th, 2023 at 12:21 pm
They may add a qb for depth, but if they were going to go with someone other than Traskerfield, they would have moved earlier, and in particular with a new system and first time playcaller. When Team Glazer is ready for the next franchise QB, they will invest in a top pick, or trade those picks for a big name.
July 27th, 2023 at 12:32 pm
Why would you want to go for Lance. If a team is looking at getting rid of a QB that they spent high capital on, it tells you everything you need to know about him. It’s gonna be Baker or bust. I get all the homers on Trask, like Joe with Winston, but he’s not going to be the answer. If he was, they never would have gone for Baker.
July 27th, 2023 at 12:36 pm
Man at bar yells opinion about Bucs. Except now that man has a blog.
July 27th, 2023 at 12:38 pm
49ers still have him under contract for 3 years , if was all they wanted him to be he would under center so chances are he is not worth the pics
July 27th, 2023 at 12:38 pm
I’m still Confused…when did Dave C. Call plays for Seattle Last season He was QB coach that’s it… I would understand More completely if we brought over Seattle OC and expected something good.. but I’m confused 🤔
July 27th, 2023 at 12:41 pm
If your a NFL QB and being openly shopped, are you really any good? NFL tradition is to not let talent walk away as injuries are around every corner.
July 27th, 2023 at 12:43 pm
We Did Not Get Seattle Offensive Coordinator We Took A QB coach that Never in His life Called Plays… Why should we expect anything from someone that’s not proven to do anything besides Relay plays called in by the OC… We could Have Hired You Reading this to Do that….go ahead blame it on the O line… We Got 2 #1 WR A great TE. Our Roster is better than Minnesota Etc but we getting smashed everywhere around the League…OmG Bucs fans
July 27th, 2023 at 12:46 pm
We Did Not Get Seattle Offensive Coordinator We Took A QB coach that Never in His life Called Plays… Why should we expect anything from someone that’s not proven to do anything besides Relay plays called in by the OC… We could Have Hired You Reading this to Do that….go ahead blame it on the O line… We Got 2 #1 WR A great TE. Our Roster is better than Minnesota Etc but we getting smashed everywhere around the League…OmG Bucs fans
July 27th, 2023 at 12:50 pm
Nobody wanted Baker M. He was released faster then Any QB I knew….
Oh wait The Bucs Saw great things in Him…. GTFOH
July 27th, 2023 at 1:32 pm
Trask isn’t it
July 27th, 2023 at 1:45 pm
San Fran burned THREE 1st round picks (+ a 3rd round pick) for Trey Lance.
So I’m sure the compensation that Lynch would want in trade would be too high to even consider.
Bucs are rolling with their “Dollar Store” QBs this year while we pay off the $36M still owed to Brady…..
July 27th, 2023 at 2:07 pm
It’s hard to believe all the commentary nonsense r true bucs fans,I wud hate to play for a team with so called f@ns r such Debbie downers Mayfield will prevail & with any commonsense will ask to b traded next year to go to a club with real loyal fans the way u bucks fans act WTF
July 27th, 2023 at 2:11 pm
Was wondering why wud bucks pay Brady 36mill when he retired how f-n– stupid that any team wud sign a contract to pay someone 36mill to retire tgT gm needs to b fired
July 27th, 2023 at 2:34 pm
Draft SS396 …aka (Shadur Sanders) ….whenever he is available!
July 27th, 2023 at 2:36 pm
Calm down Stuart.
Brady got the $36M a long time ago. This year is just paying the bill on paper.
The Bucs maxed out their credit cards while Brady was here in order to field the best roster possible – because when you have the GOAT and he’s surrounded by talent – your Super Bowl window is wide open.
It worked – we got the Super Bowl WIN – and then the next year, won 14 games and came very close to going back to the SB.
The Bucs pushed more than $100M down the road over the last 3 years. Eating the $36M assigned to Brady’s contracts in one year like we are doing in ’23 is necessary to grab some breathing/operating room cap wise moving forward.
The Saints have been pushing tons of $ forward for like 7 or 8 years straight now and will be in way worse $ shape than the Bucs moving forward.
The Bucs are taking some of their medicine this year in rolling with Trask and Mayfield for less than $10M combined. The Saints are doing the opposite by paying Carr almost $40M – GUARANTEED – FOR THE NEXT THREE YEARS.
July 27th, 2023 at 2:49 pm
If you can get Trey Lance on the cheap, of course you make that deal. The issue is that I’d assume the 49ers would want something of value in return, even if it’s a 3rd rounder, and I’m not giving up that much as I think Lance is likely a bust. However, if you can do like a 5th and a conditional 3rd (he has to be on the roster at the end of 2024 for example), then sure, why not take a flyer and see what happens. A truly high upside young guy would be interesting to have around, and who knows, maybe he’s better than what we have now. If he’s not, you’re out a 5th, and that’s fine with me as far as gambles go, and it beats wasting a 2nd in the middle of a SB run on a QB.
July 27th, 2023 at 4:45 pm
I would stick with what we got. Trask has no NFL history except in practice. Baker has two kinds of history. Pretty good and pretty bad. Who is the real Baker. Multiple teams cut him. That is a major negative. Trask is an unknown quantity. That is also a negative, but it’s also a mistake the Bucs made in never giving him any real playing time in two preseasons. That was beyond stupid with a very senior qb at Brady’s age! Last season was the price paid for not developing Trask or someone else to be ready just in case Brady was injured or played poorly! We all know how that played out. It’s probably too late and too costly to bring in an established qb. The Bucs put themselves in this position by keeping lousy backups behind Brady for three years. I personally like Trasks long term potential vs Baker.
July 27th, 2023 at 5:27 pm
Faker Mayfield or Kyle Whoever are the right answers, depending on the question. If the question is who gets us closer to drafting a franchise qb next year, then either are correct.
July 27th, 2023 at 5:38 pm
Possibly some of the all-time stupidest comments above. RBF and Stuart. Seriously, get a flarking clue.
July 27th, 2023 at 5:59 pm
IF we can get Trey Lance for a fair price, we almost have to go for it, IMHO
Lance was highly prized out of College, yet Purdy has outplayed him, otherwise there is no way they let him go.
July 27th, 2023 at 6:29 pm
No to the Lance deal, would rather get a top pick next year
July 27th, 2023 at 9:20 pm
Again Pickgrin glad to have your wisdom and observation back at JBF.
You took the words out of my mouth about Lance costing THREE first round picks.
The Niners are not going to simply GIVE him away.
So after 4 years with the sorry Cleveland Browns Mayfield was 29-30…basically .500 including his injured 4th season.
Trey Lance after 2 years with the far superior SF 49ers is 4-4 again .500 and again a record largely effected by injury.
At least Mayfield put up ONE tremendous season winning 11 and getting the sorry Browns for the first time in decades and doing something even rarer in Browns history…winning a playoff game on the road in Pittsburgh.
BOTH have major questions…Mayfield didn’t cost any draft picks and not much money and at least he DID play very well for one season.
July 27th, 2023 at 10:24 pm
49ers should have like 5 QBs on the roster.
Lance was a huge miss on their part. The time to trade for him was around the draft. Nice of this guy to publish something to generate interest but no thanks
July 28th, 2023 at 8:02 am
Yeah Joe I dont think the Bucs are in the market for injury prone project Trey Lance. Even on the cheap.
Go Bucs!
July 28th, 2023 at 8:12 am
If they had Tom Brady at quarterback they would still lose 10 games…. Oh wait a minute they did that last year
July 28th, 2023 at 7:41 pm
Over the past ten years or so I’ve migrated through several teams, following players I like, often hoping they’d shine. Gotten to know Seahawks, Vikings, Eagles, Browns in particular, their players, structures and fanbases. Now the Bucs and I have to say, there is a core of fans here who really take the cake as ‘alternative facts’/obstinate and totally venomous mothpieces.
I will admit I have hoped Mayfield would shine regularly as he has at times, because he can be really fun to watch. But at this point I agree he really needs to get on and stay on the horse. If he can’t, or if Trask can actually improve dramtically as some hope, then Trask should start. Otherwise there are clear accomplishments from Baker’s experience which should give him the opportunity to put it together. These include:
1) he came into his first Browns game down 0-14, and led the team to their first win in 20 games! 2) in 2020 he truly led their play-off run. yes they had a good running game and in fact this hurt Mayfileld’s stats as they ran at times when they should have passed (their defense was potential but not reliable) 3) against the Bengals, he missed his first passes then cam back and completed 21 in a row, with 5 touchdowns, the last on a 75 yard drive to win the nailbiter game. 4) His first game with the Rams was crazy good.
As to the bad, Mayfield’s bad 2021 was clearly froman injury and they should have puleed him. The Browns then screwed him. His term with Panthers was the worst, but more is coming out about how disfunctional that team was. Point is, he has been fantastic at times, not just ok. So give him a shot and if he falters after 3-4 games or so, pull him.
I can see that quite a few fans see Trask as the savior, but I don’t see many outside this group as having much confidence in him at all. Personally, I watched him get overwhelmed in the 2020 Cotton Bowl. UF had some players out but his release looked long and slow. Maybe that’s fixable, but is a problem.
Bottom line, there are actually several on the Bucs coaching staff with much better capacity to determine what’s best for the team. Why not let them work, and the players build confidence instead of trying to tear down anything but your clearly homer vision?