Buccaneers options if the unthinkable happens with Tom Brady
By Rob Leeds
The Buccaneers let it ride with Blaine Gabbert and Kyle Trask
Is this the most exciting option? No, but it certainly is the most likely with what we know about this front office. Jason Licht has openly supported Gabbert as a successor to Brady, and using a high-round pick on Trask means Tampa should try to see what he can actually do with some real reps if Gabbert doesn’t work out.
Gabbert is boring, and Trask is unproven, but it’s hard not to see many other viable options if Brady does retire later this season. It should be next to impossible, but contingencies like that are why teams like the Buccaneers keep several quarterbacks that they like.
Gabbert and Trask would inherit one of the best offensive lines in the NFL and a great receiving corps that should set them up for some success. However, banking on another trip to the postseason without Brady and with a demanding schedule is a lot with a new quarterback.
This scenario would give the Bucs a day one starter in Gabbert that knows the offense and a young QB to step in towards the middle to later part of the season, similar to what we saw with the Bears or the 49ers this year.
The offensive coordinator that comes in if Byron Leftwich walks will need to tweak the scheme a bit to better fit players that aren’t on Tom Brady’s level, but planning for that in the future should’ve been a focus for Licht from the start of the Brady experience.