Bucs Mailbag: Who Is Tampa Bay’s Preferred QB1?

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Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds answers your questions from the @PewterReport Twitter account each week in the Bucs Mailbag. Submit your question to the Bucs Mailbag each week via Twitter using the hashtag #PRMailbag.  Here are the Bucs draft questions we chose to answer for this week’s edition.

QUESTION: When can we expect some news on the QB1 battle between Kyle Trask and Baker Mayfield? Does the coaching staff have a preference at this time or is it an open competition?

Bucs QB Kyle Trask – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: It’s definitely an open competition, and one that really hasn’t even begun yet. The Bucs just began Phase Two of the offseason program last week after the 2023 NFL Draft. Phase One consists of the first two weeks of the program with activities limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation only. That goes on for the next three weeks of the program.

On-field workouts can happen in Phase Two. These may include individual or group instruction and drills, as well as “perfect play drills,” and drills and plays with offensive players lining up across from offensive players and defensive players lining up across from defensive players, conducted at a walk-through pace. No live contact or team offense vs. team defense drills are permitted until Phase Three.

Phase Three consists of the next four weeks of the program. Teams may conduct a total of 10 days of organized team practice activity, or “OTAs.” No live contact is permitted, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills are permitted. The Bucs begin their OTAs on May 23 and that’s really where the Baker Mayfield vs. Kyle Trask competition will begin in earnest.

Neither the coaches nor the Bucs front office has a preference in whichever quarterback wins the competition. Trask is a homegrown, second-round pick and the franchise would love to see him develop into a starter. At the same time, Tampa Bay certainly wouldn’t mind seeing Mayfield develop into a Geno Smith-type veteran Comeback Player of the Year candidate either. The Bucs just want to win – with either quarterback having success. It doesn’t matter who gets the job done.

QUESTION: How fleshed out is Dave Canales’ playbook at this point? How much of it have the QBs digested?

ANSWER: We’ll get a chance to talk to Dave Canales on Wednesday at a press conference and know more then. The guess here is that his playbook is either complete or almost completed at this stage. I’m sure once Canales gets a chance to see what his players can and can’t do during the OTAs and mini-camp that there will be some adjustments over the summer for training camp.

As for the quarterbacks, both Kyle Trask and Baker Mayfield have been regulars at the voluntary offseason workouts at the AdventHealth Training Center. Phase Two just began, and during Phase One coaches were not permitted to talk football with the players – only strength and conditioning coaches. But in Phase Two and Phase Three, that’s when the coaches can meet with the players and start going over the plays and watching film together.

So just based on the timetable, it’s still very early in the process for both Trask and Mayfield to digest Canales’ system, which is based on what Seattle has done over the past couple of years. It’s been billed as “quarterback-friendly” and easy to learn, so I’m sure that will help speed up the learning process for both quarterbacks this spring in advance of training camp.

QUESTION: Now that the draft has come and gone without the Bucs drafting a new QB, how well would Kyle Trask or Baker Mayfield have to play to prevent the Bucs from addressing the QB position next offseason? I feel anything around 4,000 yards with a 3:1 TD-to-INT might be the threshold.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

ANSWER: Outside of an injury, one of four things is going to happen with the Bucs quarterback position this summer in training camp. Either Baker Mayfield is going to be the better quarterback and prevail, Kyle Trask is going to beat out the veteran and win the starting job, both quarterbacks will rise to the occasion, or both QBs will flounder and Tampa Bay will just have to pick one.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles, general manager Jason Licht and offensive coordinator Dave Canales all want one thing from their quarterback – whoever it is. They want to win. So whether it’s throwing for 4,000 yards or 3,000 yards, or a 3:1 TD-to-INT ratio or a 2:1 TD-to-INT ratio, it doesn’t matter as long as that quarterback leads the Bucs to more than eight wins this year – or gets Tampa Bay back atop the NFC South.

Remember, Tom Brady passed for 4,694 yards with 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions last year. That’s not quite a 3:1 ratio, but it only led to the Bucs winning just eight games. Having said that, Seattle’s Geno Smith passed for 4,282 yards with 30 touchdowns and 11 TDs in his first Pro Bowl season last year.

QUESTION: The national media thinks Tom Brady single-handedly carried the Bucs to the playoffs. They can survive without him. No way are the Bucs in the bottom five in the NFL power rankings and the worst team in the NFC South. What’s the deal with the super-low expectations?

ANSWER: You’re guess is as good as mine. The Saints signed veteran quarterback Derek Carr, the Falcons spent a ton of money signing a bunch of free agents on both sides of the ball, and the Panthers spent the No. 1 overall draft pick on Alabama quarterback Bryce Young. But I think the Bucs really improved their roster this offseason, too. Tampa Bay had a home run draft in my opinion, as I wrote about in last Friday’s SR’s Fab 5.

But there will be plenty of skeptics in the national media, including NBC Sports’ Peter King, who has the Bucs ranked 31st out of 32 NFL teams in his offseason rankings. The reason? Tom Brady is gone, of course. While Brady had a stellar run in Tampa Bay over the last three years, he didn’t play his best football in 2022. There is a legitimate chance that the Bucs win more games (perhaps nine) without him this season than they did with him last year.

There are still nine Buccaneers that have been to at least one Pro Bowl, including outside linebacker Shaq Barrett, defensive tackle Vita Vea, linebackers Devin White and Lavonte David, safety Antoine Winfield Jr., center Ryan Jensen, offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs, and wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Not to mention a pair of cornerbacks with Pro Bowl potential in Carlton Davis III and Jamel Dean. There is still plenty of talent to win with in Tampa Bay – even without Brady.

Now individual talent doesn’t win games. Teams do. And football might be the most team-oriented sport there is. But if this group can play together and bounce back from an underwhelming season a year ago I wouldn’t rule out the Bucs posting a winning record and perhaps another trip to the playoffs. It all depends on the quarterback play in this quarterback-driven league. If I’m Todd Bowles I’m clipping all of these low rankings and negative stories from the doubters and using them as motivation for this year’s squad.

QUESTION: With the team signing Sean Tucker does it mean they have cleared him from his reported heart condition?

Bucs RB Sean Tucker – Photo courtesy of Syracuse

ANSWER: No, not yet. Sean Tucker had a very productive three-year career at Syracuse, rushing for 1,496 and 12 touchdowns in 2021 while averaging 6.1 yards per carry. Last year, Tucker ran for 1,060 yards and 11 TDs while averaging 5.1 yards per carry. While preparing for the 2023 NFL Draft, the junior back was flagged with an undisclosed heart condition at the NFL Scouting Combine.

That finding derailed his chances of getting drafted, but did not mean an end to his NFL dreams. While the condition is expected to clear up in time, Tucker has not been medically cleared to participate in football activities just yet. The Bucs signed him as an undrafted free agent and will be patient with him. One team source told me that the Bucs will have him undergo a battery of tests that he must pass before he’s cleared medically.

The hope is that Tucker can get medically cleared either by training camp or sometime during training camp, and that he might emerge as at least the No. 4 running back on the depth chart. Tampa Bay only has one running back under contract for next year and that’s starter Rachaad White. Ke’Shawn Vaughn is in a contract year, and Chase Edmonds only signed a one-year deal. If he makes a recovery and plays well, Tucker could ascend to the No. 2 spot in time.

QUESTION: A lot of upgrades to the D-line coming post draft, do you think there is still a need to sign a big 300-plus-pound lineman to play along Vita Vea mainly for stopping the run?

ANSWER: The Bucs did sign nose tackle Greg Gaines this offseason to essentially replace backup Rakeem Nunez-Roches, who left this offseason to play for the New York Giants. Gaines is a 6-foot-1, 317-pounder who played with Vea at the University of Washington. The two have remained friends and are excited to reunite in Tampa Bay.

Right now, Tampa Bay figures to have five of the six defensive linemen that the team will keep on its roster this season. Vea, Gaines, last year’s first pick Logan Hall, special teams stalwart Pat O’Connor and Calijah Kancey, who is this year’s first-round pick, are all but assured to make the 53-man squad. That leaves one more spot, and the only problem is that Vea and Gaines are the only ones over 300 pounds.

Suddenly the Bucs are undersized up front. Hall is approaching 300 pounds at 296, Kancey is 281, and O’Connor is in the 270-range. Backup nose tackle Deadrin Senat is 6-foot-1, 305, while Mike Greene is 293, and Willington Previlon is 287. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Tampa Bay add another bigger defensive lineman to help out in short yardage and in goal line situations with the Bucs being smaller and quicker up front this year.

While Akiem Hicks might be an option, Will Gholston would be my best bet to return on a cheap, one-year deal to help Tampa Bay’s run defense. Gholston is 6-foot-6, 310 pounds and stuffing the run is his specialty.

QUESTION: Do the Bucs go sign Zeke Elliott or do they like Rachaad White as the lead back?

ANSWER: This one is quick and easy to answer. Rachaad White will be the lead back in Tampa Bay – or at least the first crack at it. The Bucs won’t be signing former Cowboys veteran Ezekiel Elliott. Chase Edmonds is the veteran free agent they signed this offseason and they feel he’s a better fit for Dave Canales’ wide zone running scheme.