Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles not putting a timeline on naming starting QB
Most assumed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had decided on Baker Mayfield as the winner of the team’s quarterback competition after Kyle Trask played the majority of the 2nd preseason game Saturday, while Mayfield, who started the preseason opener, saw zero snaps.
Head coach Todd Bowles insisted Sunday, however, that no decision has been made, let alone that Mayfield will be the quarterback during Week 1 of the regular season against the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 10.
“We don’t have a timetable on it,” Bowles said, via Pro Football Talk. “We’ll name it when we name it. And, you know, we feel comfortable with where we’re at. So we’ll go from there.”
From the moment he signed a one-year deal worth up to $8.5 million with the Buccaneers in March, it’s been Mayfield’s job to lose. Though Trask appeared to close the gap during the first few weeks of training camp thanks to some turnover issues from his counterpart, Mayfield widened the gap during the preseason opener last Saturday. In just over a quarter of work, Mayfield completed 8-of-9 passes for 63 yards and an eight-yard touchdown strike to rookie wideout Trey Palmer. Trask, on the other hand, completed 6-of-10 passes for 99 yards.
Did Buccaneers tip their hand on QB competition?
Going into Saturday’s preseason game against the New York Jets, the plan was always for Trask to get the start, while Mayfield’s role remained uncertain. Trask saw the entirety of the snaps in the first half, before making way to third-string quarterback John Wolford for the start of the third quarter. Unfortunately, Wolford suffered a neck injury on a sack and had to be stretchered off the field.
Rather than go with Mayfield, Bowles made the decision to trot out the former Florida Gator under center once more, seemingly not wanting to risk injury to the former No. 1 overall pick. Trask took it home from there, completing 20-of-28 passes for 218 yards and a 33-yard touchdown pass to Palmer.
Bowles explained the thought process of inserting Trask back into the game, while again, failing to commit to Mayfield as QB1.
“No, Trask was warmer at the time and we took out the [offensive] line and he was ready to go,” Bowles said, via Matt Matera of Pewter Report. “We we’re going to play Baker at the end of the half, but we wanted to see Kyle in the two-minute period, so we kind of left him at the time it went down. We wanted to play John [Wolford] in the second half. It wasn’t fair to put Baker in there without the line he had. Trask was already warmed up so when John got hurt we just put him back in to finish up.”