Fallback Option?
May 10th, 2021
Bucs QB Kyle Trask.
Joe always enjoys the work of Mike Sando of The Athletic. He’s got such good sources and Joe always likes to hear what other NFL suits have to say about the Bucs, even if their identities are cloaked in confidentiality.
Sando was doing a post-draft wrap-up and based on two of his NFL sources, new Bucs quarterback Kyle Trask will be a nice quarterback to develop.
However, per Sando, Trask will just keep the seat warm for the Bucs between when they draft their franchise quarterback — whenever that may be — and the retirement of park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring, down-forgetting, handshake-stiffing, jet-ski-losing, biscuit-baking, tequila-shooting, smartphone-phobic, waffle-grilling, trophy-throwing, roller-coaster-scared, numbers-rules-peeved, Bucs-Super-Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady.
“Trask is not that much different from Mac Jones,” an exec said. “He’s bigger. Mac moves a tad better, but Trask is super-accurate, very tough. I like him better than Mond and Mills.”
Which means what, exactly?
“Trask will be a good one to groom,” another exec said, “but I don’t think he is the heir apparent.”
Look, Joe isn’t going to nitpick here. If Trask is really the next Brad Johnson as Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians claims, the Bucs can win games with the guy.
Joe has no firm opinion on Trask. But Joe does believe the way this team the past two years has developed young talent — and, oh yeah, won a Super Bowl! — that the Bucs have earned the benefit of the doubt with any player they draft or sign.
It could be worse.
Someone told hot-dog-eating-contest-protesting, mock-draft-scowling, L.L.-Bean-wearing, Second Amendment abolitionist, Mike-Florio-arguing, parrot-insensitive, chewing-with-his-mouth-open, soup-gulping, California-train-romancing, anti-football proliferation, outhouse-admiring, airline-napping, steerage-flying, Yogi Berra-worshiping, urinal-picture-taking, video-game-playing, Taylor-Swift-listening, pickpocket-thwarting, Bucs-uniform-frowning, Allie-LaForce-smitten, Big-Ten-Network-hating, pedestrian-bumping, olive oil-lapping, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, craft-beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïve, baseball-box-score-reading, NPR-honk, filthy-hotel-staying, fight-instigating, barista-training, Budweiser-tolerant, baseball-scorecard-keeping, pasta-feasting, vomit-dodging scrooge, Kay-Adams-following, Coors-Light-souring social activist and NFL insider Peter King of NBC Sports that Trask is the next Kent Graham.
May 10th, 2021 at 9:08 am
Kent Graham?! Me & Gator Nation guarantee he’ll be closer to Otto Graham!
May 10th, 2021 at 9:10 am
At least half the drafted QB’s these guys prattle on about are busts. Little reason to assume they’re want more accurate about Trask
May 10th, 2021 at 9:21 am
Nobody should expect Trask to play like a top 10 draft pick…..at #64, he’ll probably end up being a pretty good pick…..who knows? We won’t until at least 2 years from now.
May 10th, 2021 at 9:22 am
I’m still stewing over this pick that Licht wasted 276 hours ago
May 10th, 2021 at 9:32 am
Brad Johnson had a passer rating that would put him 30th in today’s NFL:
A completion % of 61.7 and a 166/122 TD/Int ratio. I don’t get the appeal.
May 10th, 2021 at 9:34 am
I like the pick. So tired of seeing gimmick qb’s fade out in 2 yrs in the nfl.
20$ potential, 10 cent minds. This guy sounds like he’ll put in the time to be a surgeon.
May 10th, 2021 at 9:35 am
What happens if the GOAT plays for more years and Trask never suits up for us?
May 10th, 2021 at 9:37 am
Dewey,
We all win then! Hopefully another ring or two!
May 10th, 2021 at 9:40 am
Dude came within an inch of being a 3rd round QB. He’s going to sit the bench for 2 years, maybe start some games in his 3rd year and lose the job to whomever the new coach chooses in the first round a few seasons from now. Even if he turns out to be the guy, his team is “all in” over the next 2 seasons, that bill comes due as soon a Brady retires.
May 10th, 2021 at 9:54 am
Trask has the GOAT teaching him the ropes….
one day, the student will become the teacher….
GO BUCS!!!!
May 10th, 2021 at 9:59 am
We’ll be checking the archives in the future to see who is right. And Pete will update us on how many days it’s been since his life was ruined by the Trask pick.
May 10th, 2021 at 10:06 am
I always go back to step 1 for winning championships….which is making the playoffs. We had Mr “pro ready” in Winston…..we never made the playoffs with him or even sniffed them. Meanwhile a guy like Andy Dalton got the Bengals to the playoffs multiple times…same with Alex Smith. We dont need elite to compete for the playoffs, we need effective and Arians & Co seem to think Trask has the ability. As a fan, i’d much rather have a team that makes the playoffs routinely vs long droughts of losing with an occasional good season.
May 10th, 2021 at 10:11 am
Lets’ see, He’s not considered a very athletic QB because of limited mobility (in his play). There are questions about his arm strength but has been known to heave the ball downfield on rare occasion.
He is considered to be very accurate. One plus.
Based on current contracts, he has two years to study under arguably the best to ever play the game. Said mentor, BTW, had very similar indications when he was drafted in the 6th round.
I can’t predict the future, but it seems to me that the tangible/intangible mix of this situation could turn out very good for us. Of course, there is also the very real chance of bust.
As a Buc’s fan since inception, I have always anticipated a winning season, so I guess you could call me a fatal optimist.
Just sayin…
May 10th, 2021 at 10:26 am
At this point, I suspect, he’s a solid future back up. That said, I’m not Bruce Arians, and what I know vs what he knows about QBs could fit in thimble. If anyone can get his mechanics fixed up, it’s Arians and Co. I’m excited to see what he’s got when he gets thrown in the deep end.
May 10th, 2021 at 10:31 am
Yeah they said the same thing about Brady take is moronic. Yeah they said it about Brady and 100 other QBs in the last 20 years. Yet there’s still only one.
May 10th, 2021 at 10:34 am
If Gators had a competent DC and a defense they would have won the National Championship and Trask would have been a top 15 pick
May 10th, 2021 at 10:54 am
@lambeau,
Brad Johnson has won exactly the same number of Super Bowls as Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees. At the end of the day, as a fan of the team, that’s all we care about. How many SBs did we win with him. The MVPs, passing records, and HOF are all personal goals for the player.
Don’t @ me that I’m comparing BJ to Aaron and Drew. I clearly stated my logic. Stats are for geeks.
May 10th, 2021 at 10:55 am
Trask is definitely the most talked about third-stringer of all time.
May 10th, 2021 at 10:57 am
Can’t figure out for the life of me what all the fuss is about. If Brady goes down, BA won’t even think twice about going with Gabbert. Trask will be protected ahead of Griffin only because the Bucs have to protect him or lose him. Chances are pretty good he won’t dress for a single game this season.
I expect Tom Brady to be here in 2021 AND 2022, PROVIDING that we can protect him. And thus far, our OLine has done a great job of that; no reason to think that’ll change. How well Trask develops in those 2 years is anyone’s guess at this point. Would love to see him become a ‘Tom Brady clone’, but the odds of that happening are probably 50% at best. Still, IMO it’s all about TEAM. Surround any NFL QB with superb talent, and their odds of succeeding just went WAY UP.
May 10th, 2021 at 11:09 am
I keep saying Brady was a sixth round pick and a long shot. You don’t have to be a first round draft pick to succeed in this league. You can look around the league at current first round flops Rosen, Haskins, Darnold, Mariota etc.etc.etc.
May 10th, 2021 at 11:14 am
I don’t think Trask is going to be great like Mahommes, but if he has a great defense and is a competent game manager with a decent TD to INT ratio he may be as good as Brad Johnson someday. I’m intrigued to see how this turns out.
May 10th, 2021 at 11:30 am
Dewey…at that point, we do what GB and the Pats did… trade him a year before he becomes a FA and get value for him. And if we can’t , showcase him a little and hope some team pays him big bucks and we get a nice compensatory pick.
May 10th, 2021 at 11:33 am
Mahomes is great…but with all the scrambling, he is a frequent target. He might last like Rodgers has…hopefully for his sake. But it doesn’t always work out that way.
May 10th, 2021 at 11:52 am
Trask is probably more Shaun King (and hopes is it will not be a third string QB that gets us there like Shaun had to come in and do). First and second string QBs get injured, enter Shaun King the local guy (that’s pressure), but the defense had his back if he could make a few plays, though he did hmmm, Bert Emanuel. So if Brady and Gabbert get injured, can the rookie (Former Gator and GOAT heir apparent (that’s pressure) make a few plays and ride the coattails of the defense. Let’s hope not, but that’s a potential scenario.
May 10th, 2021 at 11:57 am
I think He sees the field before Gabbert
May 10th, 2021 at 11:58 am
Well said, I trust their opinion at this point.
May 10th, 2021 at 12:10 pm
All these people worried about the fact that he’s not a running quarterback… Good! Lamar Jackson is destined for injury. Yes, being able to scramble is a benefit but it is far far far from a necessity.
Trask can processes information and is accurate. He will be fine.
And To say he’s not the heir apparent as a second round pick seems pretty idiotic to say. He is unless he proves otherwise
May 10th, 2021 at 12:15 pm
I have a lot more confidence in the Bucs management and scouts than I do internet writers and a bunch of trolls.
Feeling good about drafting Trask. Will let things play out, not prejudge.
May 10th, 2021 at 12:17 pm
I would not expect to see the FO draft a QB high in the draft until 2023/2024 at min. (There’s just not enough high quality QB’s in the college pipeline to justify reaching for one, until Trask has shown he cannot be the guy!)
Worst case scenario…The FO has to sign a FA or trade for a disgruntled starter once TB12 walks into the sunset.
May 10th, 2021 at 12:28 pm
Well said, GP. You articulated my sentiments.
May 10th, 2021 at 1:03 pm
I think the Joes are noticing that Kyle Trask gets the comments section going and lots of clicks! Let’s get something straight. Comments are completely irrelevant to “clicks” as you call them. 99.5% of readers never comment and some posts with the least comments are often the most viewed. Joe writes about what Joe finds intriguing. That’s the standard. QBs are more interesting than special teams players. –Joe
If hes the real deal maybe we’ll be able to keep some of these guys after TB12 leaves.
May 10th, 2021 at 1:10 pm
Lambchop
Right on. Beat me to it. I don’t care what B Johnson’s or any buc qbs stats are. Id prefer we win by 30 every game to preserve my fingernails but I’ll take the one point win every week. Not sure why so many expected a Trevor Lawrence to be taken at pick 64. He’s smart and accurate and wont lose any games for ya. With this defense he can win games here. Hopefully when he hits the field he’ll still have plenty of weapons and a good D. I dont think they drafted himcto not be the heir apparent. We’ll see
May 10th, 2021 at 1:12 pm
Thank you Jimbo
@Kentucky Buc
I think you missed my point,
At this time, talk is talk. Production is another matter all together.
Trask could not ask for a better situation for his long term success in this league. That is not saying he is a shoo in to take over and be successful, just that he could not wish for a better situation.
I do not evaluate players as a professional, time to trust those with the skills and information that I do not have.
Again, as a Buc’s fan, I am ever the optimist
May 10th, 2021 at 2:13 pm
Yes, the stats confirmed that Brad Johnson wasn’t anything special. That just goes to show you how bad Bucs quarterbacks were prior to him, all we needed was a competent quarterback with that defense to take us to the Super Bowl
May 10th, 2021 at 3:21 pm
@gp . Wasn’t replying to u. Replying to all the osmosis believers.
May 10th, 2021 at 3:39 pm
@Kentucky
Gotcha
May 10th, 2021 at 3:40 pm
@lambchop
First off, why are you on a Bucs site?
Are you lost?
Since you bring up Brad Johnson, here’s the appeal. In 2002, he had a QBR of 92, and was the third rated QB in the NFL in 2002 for QBR.
Along with that QBR he led the Bucs to the Super Bowl Championship, something that two other QB’s with our amazing defense could not do.
It’s a bunch of malarkey to hear that any QB could have won with our defense.
Well if that was the case why didn’t Dilfer (god rest your soul Big Dog Deumig, I had to say his name) or King do it when they got their shot?
That’s the appeal.
May 10th, 2021 at 3:48 pm
@lamchop
That was for lambeau, not you.
I gave him that nickname and forgot that there was another person with name lambchop on here.
Sorry about that.
Brad Johnson’s 2002 stats were special. #3 in the NFL for QBR is special.
May 10th, 2021 at 5:39 pm
Trask will most likely never see the field, and that’s a good thing. Have we not learned anything about thrusting qbs into duty too soon?!
Brad Johnson won us a SB. Winning is the ultimate goal. If Trask can produce and become a good qb, we should be elated to not have to filter through more qbs “ of the future “!
May 10th, 2021 at 6:36 pm
I am a Gator backer but believe the “exec” is correct. Trask will be a very good bridge option, but not a franchise QB.
May 10th, 2021 at 9:48 pm
So you have a qb thats big,accurate and can go through multiple reads but isnt terribly mobile, needs a good line yet these mobile QBs cant read defense, aremt terribly accurate and cant read defense but they are better prospects?makes no sense and to top that,one of the more mobile QBs in the league was.the most sacked and seattle always gets panned for.not having a good.line…so,in essence,being a.mobile qb isnt really an advantage….would take trask,Lawrence or jones over any of the guys drafted over the last 3 drafts….you give them good protection and update them a little on the offenses of the nfl.and.you have a .muxh better chance of.winning…even mahommes showed his weakness in the.SB
..all.the defense did was take his first read away and he was.off to the races …sure he ran around and looked all impressive at.time but how many points did they score…meanwhile Brady hits Gronk, the 3rd read,for one of 2 of his TDs for the.day..funny how mobility seems to overshadow everything else that is important about a.good qb when mobility should be the least important thing
May 10th, 2021 at 10:06 pm
Wow Hissy
That was hard to read.
But I think I’m mostly in agreement with you.
May 10th, 2021 at 11:48 pm
Wasn’t Manziel a mobile QB? We should check with his agent, ‘,the crazy half of Joe Bucs Fan founders’ on his status.
There’s literally nothing else to b!tch about. We signed everyone back.
So great.
In BA I Trust!
May 11th, 2021 at 10:31 am
If a mobile, Swiss army knife of a QB is the be-all and end-all of the position, how did the Bucs win a Stupor Bowl?
Accuracy is more important than running around in circles, I hold up our old QB as proof.
Trask will be better than fine in this offense.