Buccaneers paired with Super Bowl QB by ESPN writer for better reasons

For as long as Blaine Gabbert is the backup quarterback to Tom Brady, the Buccaneers need to be on the market for someone with more talent on the field.

There was a scary period during the past offseason where it looked like the Buccaneers were going to collapse under their own weight due to a lack of a clear franchise leader at quarterback.

Whether that new quarterback was going to be Blaine Gabbert, Kyle Trask, a free agent target, or a rookie in the draft, the prospects weren’t all that likely that the team would be able to find anyone that could take up Brady’s mantle.

Perhaps this was part of the reason why some Bucs fans believed there was a fit with Jimmy Garoppolo. The Patriots drafted Jimmy G to serve as a potential replacement to Brady. He then went to Brady’s favorite team and played with them in the Super Bowl.

The Brady ties were there, so why not fill the void he created with Garoppolo?

Well, despite his win-loss record, Garoppolo is not the best quarterback in the NFL. He likely sits somewhere in the 18-22 range amongst active QBs from a talent standpoint, and while this worked on a team like the 49ers with a run-heavy approach, Garoppolo would’ve been exposed as the starter in Tampa.

But what if he wasn’t the starter? What if the Bucs instead just chose to recreate the New England quarterback room that made Garoppolo so popular in the first place?

Dan Graziano of ESPN seems to think this could work.

Garoppolo as a full-time starter is scary. Garoppolo as a backup to Tom Brady in the event of an injury to the GOAT is far easier to stomach.

Let’s face it, the Buccaneers aren’t getting anything out of their other quarterbacks in 2022 if Brady goes down. One injury and the whole year is a waste. Jimmy G probably doesn’t up the ante too much to make him a great starting option for any team, but bringing a level of insurance such as this is nothing to scoff at.

Garoppolo is about to become a free agent when the 49ers inevitably find no trade partners and Trey Lance makes it clear that he has infinitely more talent than his elderly counterpart, so the Bucs could find a much better backup on a pretty cheap deal.

The market isn’t really there for the former Patriot, and teams like the Buccaneers know this. Tampa should not be content in what they have with Gabbert as a player with potential to actually make it on the field, and this suggestion actually makes some sense when you examine it under the scope of the must-win season that we are about to be in.

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