Buccaneers HC Todd Bowles has much better take on young player

The media firestorm that began in Tampa after quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen said Kyle Trask isn’t competing for a backup QB spot with the Buccaneers is getting put out.

Todd Bowles must pay attention to the media. Or, at least someone in the Buccaneers front office realized how bad it looked for the team to publicly say that a second round pick drafted to replace Tom Brady down the line wasn’t in competition with Blaine Gabbert in 2022 for the backup spot.

This is a good thing too. That statement was ridiculous. Even if you absolutely hate Trask and don’t see him as a future starting quarterback for this team (we are absolutely pulling for the kid but fall in this category as doubters), you can’t hope for him to stay as the third guy forever.

No matter how much you dislike Trask, no Bucs fan on the planet can believe that Blaine Gabbert actually deserves a shot as the future franchise guy, and some even believe (us again!) that he should lose his backup job.

The Bucs drafted Trask in a high round. They have to believe that he can play football at a replaceable level, and the only way to get him to that point is reps. The second quarterback gets those reps.

Even if Gabbert is better at talking to Brady about past drives, let him do that with a ball cap on during the game. If worst comes to worst, let Trask go out on the field and develop. If Brady gets hurt, wins and losses won’t matter anyway.

While we doubt that this is a real opportunity and see it more as a way to smooth over the confusion towards the prior quotes on Trask, Todd Bowles has said that there actually is going to be a competition for the backup role, much like there is competition “everywhere.”

Classic coach-speak. We would like to see how Bowles handles this stance if a guy like Tristan Wirfs had a bad camp. Something says he isn’t in competition for his job.

Regardless, the Bucs should follow their own words, even if they just made them as a way to deflect from some of the concern on how they handle players.

Trask does deserve a shot to win the second job, especially because anyone should be able to see why a second round pick not getting a chance to become the second guy in year two with Gabbert on the roster is concerning.

One way or another, Bowles is at least speaking on the topic the right way. Let’s just see how he handles it down the line.

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