Tampa Bay Buccaneers should avoid Carson Wentz like the plague

It should go without saying that the answer to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers question at quarterback is not the recently released Carson Wentz.

Do you remember that scene from The Office where Michael Scott drives his car into a lake, opting to listen to the GPS rather than a pleading Dwight?

That’s the situation with Carson Wentz, who was recently released by the Washington Commanders thus ending a third tenure with his third team in three years. Wentz is a free agent, and should be considered an option by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in name only, because any further consideration would be akin to Michael driving his car into a lake.

Let’s be completely clear: Carson Wentz is emphatically not the answer for the Buccaneers quarterback question. Under absolutely no circumstances should his name even be whispered inside of One Buc Place and any counter argument should be taken as admission that whoever is making the case has never watched a single down of football in their entire lives.

More: Ranking 16 free agent QB targets for Bucs this offseason

There might be some who toss it out as a thought exercise; take is as someone who twists and turns just about every possible narrative into an option for the Buccaneers, even this is too enormously stupid for me to pretend to feign interest in as a possible option.

Buccaneers Rumors: Carson Wentz should not be a free agent option

This is not going to be terribly nuanced, because there doesn’t need to be a deep discussion about why Wentz is not an option for the Bucs this offseason.

Wentz is a complete and total failure as a quarterback in the NFL, something he’s made clear three times over. Perhaps he got a bad break at the end of his tenure in Philadelphia, which he parlayed into another shot with a familiar coach in Indianapolis. When a reunion with Frank Reich failed — someone who at one point in time coached him to an MVP-level in Philly — some tried to argue that it was yet another bad break with COVID derailing his normal offseason routine.

A third failure in Washington, in which Ron Rivera put his reputation on the line to bring Wentz in only to be forced into benching him twice, is the final nail in the coffin. Wentz had a full offseason with the Commanders, and even a Chip On His Shoulder narrative that would have motivated a good quarterback to prove everyone wrong.

Wentz is not that, and he shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the Bucs this offseason. Kyle Trask is Joe Montana in terms of what the potential upside to having him start next season would be compared to Wentz.

Tampa Bay indeed has a former Commanders quarterback as an option in free agency, but it’s Taylor Heinicke. The best thing that happened to Heinicke was being in Washington to mop up the mess that Wentz made.

If you want a thought exercise try this one on for size: Would you rather have Carson Wentz or Mason Rudolph as the Bucs quarterback? Which of those two would fans feel more comfortable with at the wheel of a must-win game?

Perhaps nothing this offseason highlights how the Bucs don’t have it as bad as it may seem at quarterback than looking at what the potential options are and then looking at Wentz. Tampa Bay has enough problems to work out, bringing in Carson Wentz doesn’t need to be another one.