Three reasons Buccaneers should NOT pursue Rodgers or Wilson

The Buccaneers have cheaper alternatives, including Kyle Trask.

We mentioned how trading for one of these (quite old) veterans in Rodgers and Wilson would cost the Bucs an arm, leg, and good amount of draft picks for what would be a moderate stint in Tampa Bay. That being the case, there are much cheaper options if the Buccaneers insist on going down the veteran route.

Whoever the next quarterback is, he’ll more likely than not be a “bridge” or “stop-gap” option. They may bring in a veteran, but it’ll be someone in the mold of say a Jimmy Garoppolo type, who the team has reportedly expected to make a strong push for. That may not be the most “glamorous” choice, but given the aforementioned coaching uncertainty, it would be practical. It wouldn’t cost nearly as much, and while Jimmy G has his nay-sayers, he is a proven winner. The Bucs have been linked to other veterans too, but Garoppolo would be the most accomplished.

There’s another option for the Buccaneers already in-house.

While what we have seen of Kyle Trask thus far, albeit in preseason action, has been a bit of a mixed bag, the team clearly thinks highly of the former Florida Gator, otherwise, they would not have taken him in the second round.

Sure, the knee-jerk reaction would be that the Buccaneers should draft a quarterback in the FIRST round if the Buccaneers bring in a veteran bridge quarterback, and that is understandable, but that is looking at things with a bit of a wide-angled lens.

A fairly interesting stat to consider, out of the 55 Super Bowls that have been played so far, 28 have been won by quarterbacks taken in the first round, narrowly edging out the 27 wins by quarterbacks not taken in the first round. However, of those 28, five were won by quarterbacks taken in the first round by a different team. The point is, it doesn’t really matter where you find your quarterback as long as you find your quarterback. To some, the diminished pressure of being drafted in a round other than the first can be beneficial.

That said, why not give Trask at least a puncher’s chance? He’s had a year to learn under Brady, and Brady is a pretty good ballplayer in his own right so surely he was a wealth of knowledge. Also, Blaine Gabbert is an option as a veteran quarterback who can also fill the void and mentor Trask until he’s ready, but he too is set to be a free agent.

So all things considered, while Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson may make more headlines, and be better short-term for the Buccaneers, it’s simply not worth bringing either in. It’s especially true when you consider that there are now rumors of Kyler Murray and the Bucs being linked, but that’s a story for another day. It’s best to stay in reality anyway.