Dave Canales: Inexperienced Backup Doesn’t Elevate A Starter
April 8th, 2024
“Stay in your lane, Kyle.”
The departed 2023 Bucs offensive coordinator had interesting things to say about backup quarterbacks recently.
Of course, Joe is referring to new Panthers head coach Dave Canales, who spent more than a decade in Seattle before arriving in Tampa.
With the Seahawks, Canales worked with several experienced No. 2 quarterbacks to Russell Wilson: Geno Smith, Tavaris Jackson, Drew Lock and more. In Tampa, it was Kyle Trask, who had no starts and few professional throws to his name.
Speaking at the NFL annual meetings in Orlando, Canales said he likes a backup that’s played in games. Per Canales, they make the starter better.
“For me, it adds value to the room [to have experienced backups]. Some people see the third [quarterback] as a developmental role, as a future No. 2. I don’t see it that way,” Canales said. “I would love to have two guys behind your starter who have real playing time, real game experience. Because as we go around the [quarterback] room and we start talking about these defenses, they all have an experience against this defensive coordinator or that. And they add that value and it really like elevates the starter. So if you think about like Kyle Trask didn’t have a lot of game experience in Tampa … John Wolford played a lot, played against me in Seattle, played in a similar system.”
Canales went on to talk about how excited he is to work with Panthers backup QB Andy Dalton, the former Pro Bowler, because of all the subtleties he will learn from Dalton in the quarterbacks room.
So did Canales think Trask was starter material but of limited value as a backup? Was Trask not wowing Canales in meetings rooms?
Joe finds this all highly thought-provoking.
April 8th, 2024 at 8:39 pm
Don’t care. Canales is old news and so is last year’s team.
We have both Trask and Wolford under contract for another year – so the QB room is set except for a potential 4th camp arm/practice squad rookie (Which may well be Devin Leary from Ky if he doesn’t get drafted).
I feel pretty good that either Trask or Wolford could make a decent showing if Baker has to miss any games this year. And both will get plenty of chances in TC and preseason to solidify that assessment….
April 8th, 2024 at 8:47 pm
Makes sense, and it’s the reason why Brady wanted Gabbert and not Trask as his backup
April 8th, 2024 at 9:04 pm
Bucs didn’t need Tom Brady to order them. All they had to do was watch three or four practices, if that.
April 8th, 2024 at 9:39 pm
Context matters. When you have a seasoned vet, your backup can be a developmental guy. When you have a dude that was a rookie last year that got his ass served up to the defense because they were trash, it changes the calculus.
April 8th, 2024 at 9:40 pm
Every “experienced” qb were inexperienced at one point. But then again, this is like saying water is wet. No one in their right mind would start Trask over Brady.
April 8th, 2024 at 9:49 pm
Canales is going to struggle mightily with the panthers, he won’t even finish out his contract I would bet. Glad the panthers went and got him cause he is not ready to be a head coach the way he struggled as an OC
April 8th, 2024 at 9:56 pm
Brady was once a backup with no experience. He did pretty good when he got his chance. Mahomes had zero experience as Smiths backup, he turned out ok. Canales had one year as an OC now he’s a HC. Go figure.
April 8th, 2024 at 10:00 pm
If you need your backup QB to elevate the room you probably have a bad starting QB.
April 8th, 2024 at 10:19 pm
Makes sense what he is saying. Trask could watch a lot of film and be able to add input to the room from what he sees. I think Dave will do fine as a HC, if he delegates a lot and uses his positivity and energy as main motivating factors for the team without having to big himself down in play calls and decision making. We shall see, but in general I don’t care, hope the Panthers suck again.
This seems like another opportunity to kick the dead horse and say Trask was such a wasted draft pick in pursuit of back to back Super Bowls.
April 8th, 2024 at 10:24 pm
Joe’s weekly obsession with Kyle Trask
April 8th, 2024 at 10:34 pm
The only reason a guy like Trask has no experience is due to the team drafting him does not give him experience. Can’t get experience if you’re not given an opportunity.
April 8th, 2024 at 10:47 pm
Trashk to the Stupid is weeping like a little girl who dropped her ice cream
Kyle should get busy on his real estate holdings business.
April 8th, 2024 at 10:50 pm
Can’t get into the game if you don’t earn it. Trashk deserves to be given nothing. So far, nothing is what he’s earned.
April 8th, 2024 at 11:14 pm
What he’s saying makes a ton of sense for the QB room. Experience > inexperience is just common sense.
April 8th, 2024 at 11:20 pm
I’ll also add this. I think when Baker got injured and Trask filled in, we should’ve let Trask finish the game barring disaster. I think we should’ve let Baker walk (and kept Shaq + Carlton for 1 more yr each) and see what Kyle, a bargain vet, or a new rookie was made of.
We’re entering Kirk Cousins territory w/ Baker. Overpaying for an above avg QB (at best) and not getting any chips cuz of it. He’s like a permanent (2-3YR) bandaid of sorts.
All that said, I absolutely disputed the selection of Kyle Trask in the 2nd round and count it among Jason Licht’s many, many failures at drafting… Noah Spence… aguayo… hargreaves… Matt gay…
April 8th, 2024 at 11:20 pm
It’s stupid to treat Trask like he’s the enemy, and it’s stupid to speculate what he is capable of at this level. It’s also stupid to never find out, even when Mayfield was injured or games were already decided. Just one more reason I still have little confidence in Bowles as a HC. His QB competition last summer was a farce. Trask never played with the starters. We have to be the only team in the league that has drafted a QB and never signed him to a second contract. That’s pathetic.
April 8th, 2024 at 11:40 pm
Sparky – they have found out. They know he sucks which is why you haven’t seen him. They don’t give a rat turd about you wanting to see what they’ve got. They know.
Maybe you should get yourself a job on the staff so you can witness his performance in practice first hand. Kyle is a good guy, a nice success story. He’s reached his pinnacle, and if Wolford and Trashk compete, Wolford will be Baker’s backup.
April 8th, 2024 at 11:47 pm
This is the ONLY Bucs oriented website that devotes digital ink to Kyle Trask. I haven’t read or seen a single sentence written about him in months from anyone else – reputable or otherwise.
Why?
Just poking the rednecks who love their homeboy?
First, Trask is an interesting player, a true unknown as a 2021 second-round pick. Second, the Bucs told everyone Trask was “this close” to winning the starting job, which means he almost beat out a Pro Bowl quarterback that had lots of experience. Third, the backup QB has long been an intriguing figure among fans since the beginning of the NFL. Lastly, Joe can’t speak for other websites. Joe writes about what Joe finds interesting. –Joe
April 9th, 2024 at 12:01 am
You earn Playing time in the NFL.
Both Brady and Mahomes were behind well respected Veteran QBs.
They lit up practices, so the Coaches got them off the bench- and in the game!
The fact that Trask has inspired NOONE to get him playing time, tells you What Capt. Tim has said since the second the Bucs announced they had drafted Kyle Trask
Drafting him was a major mistake. We wasted a pick on Task, When I was hollering for an Olinemen or CB. We needed players who would play- and we wasted a puck on a playe who will never get off the bench.
It was an idiot move. Anyone who knows ANYTHING about Football could see the kid doesnt have an NFL arm.
He will finish his Rookie contract without ever playing a meaningful down. He will be cut. An absolute waste of a SECOND ROUND PICK, when we had obvious needs.
Trask only had one value. Whenever I saw someone in the Trask mob, I knew they knew nothing about football. AT ALL.
So I didnt waste my time reading post by the clueless.
April 9th, 2024 at 12:02 am
Big Red – you didn’t want the Bucs to draft Trask but now you want them to play him, when the coaches, management, players and staff all have been watching him suck in practice for three years. The reason Baker came back in after he got injured is, Todd wanted to win the game and knew that one legged bruised ribs Baker gave them a way better shot to do that, and Trashk gave them an almost certain chance of losing.
So, you want your team to lose, it sounds like.
April 9th, 2024 at 5:42 am
Like I said, just stupid.
April 9th, 2024 at 6:16 am
Trask must be really really bad to never have beer given a shot.
April 9th, 2024 at 6:25 am
“Capt.Tim Says:
April 9th, 2024 at 12:01 am
You earn Playing time in the NFL.
Both Brady and Mahomes were behind well respected Veteran QBs.
They lit up practices, so the Coaches got them off the bench- and in the game!”
They got into the game when their respective starters got hurt
April 9th, 2024 at 8:25 am
So, in conclusion, Kyle Trashk will be running a non-profit to help the disabled in 24 months.
April 9th, 2024 at 8:44 am
Don’t go in the water before you learn how to swim! That would be insanely stupid ! Almost as stupid as having a quarterback “competition” and having one quarterback outperform the other in practices, then refuse to let that quarterback that outperformed the other in practices , have any reps with the starters! It’s almost as if the fix was in, and for Whatever insane reason , the powers that be didn’t want it to be seen that the slighted quarterback was performing better, ( could it be that there had been some type of agreement already , contractual or otherwise, that the favored quarterback would start , before the “competition “was even held? Nah , couldn’t be , now that would have really been insanely stupid!
April 9th, 2024 at 9:15 am
JD . Baker Mayfield didn’t earn the starting job he was gifted the starting job even IRA said while Trask was out playing Baker Mayfield. His sorse told him that while Baker was throwing pick after pick in practice and Kyle Trask had 1 pick at the time. And to all you Baker fan boys that doesn’t mean someone is a Trask fan facts or facts. That’s why I heard anyone say Baker was just better than Trask. The only thing they have said was Baker has more experience and they did talk about the fakest stat of all and that’s mosie lol 🤣🤣 . Mosie didn’t help with that 6 games losing streak. And if it wasn’t for our defense we wouldn’t even made the playoffs in both of the Carolina games. Baker Mayfield was almost bench according to the pewter report. Baker will have another average season at best and if he sucks then his fan boys blame everyone else but him just like they did last year during that 6 game losing streak. Now to be honest I will say Baker did play good against the Texans and he sucked for the rest of the 5 games. And don’t give me those water down stats when the game was out of reach than he he put up those garbage yards. This is not a super bowl roster or a franchise quarterback and we better hope our division suck again just to make the playoffs that’s not a good team when you have to hope your division is trash just to make the playoffs. Think about it we went 9-8 in the worse division in football and it took all 17 games to win it .
April 9th, 2024 at 9:18 am
Never heard anyone say Baker was just better than Trask!!
April 9th, 2024 at 9:20 am
People that keep hating on Trask who hasn’t got any playing time with the starters is crazy. He was never gonna play when Brady was here and Brady wanted an experienced back up to scheme with when he wasn’t on the field. Then Bowles simply didn’t wanna trust a guy who hasn’t played yet with his coaching career. Yes the staff has seen what he’s capable of in PRACTICE which is not live game reps, people who keep saying Trask sucks and he won’t play cause they know he sucks are idiots. He could suck but we will not know until it happens which it probably won’t because Tampa doesn’t know how to develop quarterbacks, they never have. He will be the second string cause Wolford has played and hasn’t done crap.
April 9th, 2024 at 9:38 am
Sounds like Tavaris got Canales acclimated to having top notch qbs on the bench to push HOFers like Russell Wilson, lol.
Canales likes hearing himself talk. I fear he is not ready to be a head man.
April 9th, 2024 at 9:40 am
We’re only one Mayfield injury away from finding out if Trask is any good.
Remember kids, Baker doesn’t shy away from contact either.
April 9th, 2024 at 9:41 am
Why don’t we call Steve Young and ask his opinion hehe,humor
April 9th, 2024 at 12:28 pm
How many passes has Canales thrown, and completed? Anyway, one of the oldest NFL axioms is the backup QB is always the most popular guy on the team. Probably promulgated mostly by some beat writers who need clicks.
April 9th, 2024 at 1:32 pm
Kinda reinforces the idea that the Trask pick was a wasted pick
Especially when they still had Brady and were theoretically in “all in/win now” mode.
April 9th, 2024 at 10:29 pm
Yet the idiot Browns jettisoned HOF veteran Flacco and got washed-up, never good Winston to back-up the washed-up never good (and always injured) r@pist QB they have. In that example, I can see some wisdom in what Canales is saying.
April 10th, 2024 at 11:39 am
Wolford is the Bucs backup. Trashk will be the water boy.
Now the Trashk fans are crying about a conspiracy to keep a better player from playing in the ultra competitive ruthless Not For Long League.
That is a special kind of stupid.
April 10th, 2024 at 11:48 am
“So if you think about like Kyle Trask didn’t have a lot of game experience in Tampa … John Wolford played a lot, played against me in Seattle, played in a similar system.” – Canales
Wolford’s “playing a lot” produced 1 TD and 5 INTs – just the sort of guy whose brain you want to pick (pun intended) in a quarterback room. LOL. Canales is a dunce.
April 10th, 2024 at 11:51 am
Wow, Dave Pear and Capt.Tim are obsessed with Kyle Trask. I’d bet my house those two are FSU fans who spend every waking moment hating on all things UF. Stereotypical Florida rednecks.
April 10th, 2024 at 11:54 am
Hodad Says: “If you need your backup QB to elevate the room you probably have a bad starting QB.”
Excellent point. Gabbert didn’t “elevate” the quarterback room when Brady was here. If Mayfield needs a guy with a career record of 1 TD and 5 INTs to elevate the quarterback room, Mayfield is a dunce.
April 10th, 2024 at 3:14 pm
Kyle Trask will definitely be the second string Dave Pear is a moron thinking wolford is any good
April 12th, 2024 at 6:55 am
Kyle Trask may well never be starter material. Canales was saying that Trask has no starter experience in NFL.
It could be that Trask becomes a career clipboard carrier and nothing more.
I think Kyle is too immobile from what I have seen in his preseason work. That’s really the only experience he has and about the only sampling we have. At best, that preseason work was erratic.