Buccaneers’ Canales: QB Competition ‘Absolutely’ Tighter

The battle for QB1 is far from over

Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales spoke to the media before practice on Tuesday and had some interesting things to say regarding Tampa Bay’s quarterback competition during training camp.

When asked his thoughts on if the quarterback competition has gotten tighter, Canales didn’t hesitate. “Oh, absolutely. I think that”, Canales said.

“Going back to the spring, we were in this room talking about it, and the pros and cons of just naming a starter for the comfortability versus playing this thing out. I think what we are seeing is a couple of guys who both have to put themselves into that starter mind frame going into the practices, knowing, ‘Hey, today is my day. I get to roll with the ones. I get a few more reps.’ It is pretty much even, even with the way we go ones and twos, the way we do it.”

The new offensive coordinator also thinks both quarterbacks are making themselves better, even in competition. “I just see the two guys really challenging each other”, Canales said.

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Based on what we have seen from camp thus far, Canales is on point with his assessment. The progress that Kyle Trask has shown during the first few days of camp has been noticeable and it doesn’t even mean Mayfield has struggled, it more so has to do with Trask’s development.

With the first preseason game coming up in a little over a week, it will be interesting to see how Todd Bowles decides to handle the reps each guy gets because right now, Trask is making a strong case to get the first look.

Heading into camp, a lot of media and fans might have expected the competition to be just a label and for Baker Mayfield to be named the starter early on, but that isn’t the case right now and the offensive coaching staff clearly has clearly been impressed with what they have seen out of Kyle Trask.

There is still a long way to go before the regular season, but make no mistake, this is shaping up to be a real competition for the starting quarterback position.