Todd Bowles sends clear message about Kyle Trask’s future

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles commented on the idea of Kyle Trask starting in 2023, and how the team might approach drafting a quarterback.  

As the start of free agency nears, and the official start of the offseason with it, the question of what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will do at quarterback looms large.

It’s not an easy answer to come by, as there are a number of different routes Tampa Bay can go in filling the void left by Tom Brady’s retirement. Free agency is an option, although the Bucs are a bit strapped for cash and can’t make that big of a splash.

Two of the best options are ones also happen to conflict one another. The NFL Draft could produce a quarterback of the future for the Bucs, but the team could also roll with Kyle Trask as the a starter next year.

Trask has played less than 10 snaps since being drafted in the second round back in 2021, which means he’s effectively as rookie and as green as any prospect that could join the team.

One prospect who has already been linked to the Bucs is Florida Gators quarterback Anthony Richardson. Bowles and Jason Licht met with him at the NFL Combine this past week, which was notable in its own right.

Since then, the hype train on Richardson has gone into hyperdrive and he’s rocketing up draft boards as a result of his performance in Indy. Every year it seems a quarterback’s stock booms around this time and it appears Richardson is the beneficiary of that this time around.

Will the Bucs roll with a new Gators quarterback or see what they have with the on the team already drafted?

Buccaneers News: Todd Bowles comments on Bucs drafting a QB this year

Bowles didn’t throw Trask under the bus, but he also didn’t stand in front of one for him either. Instead, the Bucs head coach gave an honest assessment that will probably be misconstrued even if it makes total sense for him to have given it.

Trask won’t be handed the starting job just because he’s the only guy in the room, is essentially the gist of what Bowles said. It won’t be the reason Tampa Bay passes on drafting a quarterback, either.

Here’s what Bowles said, via Joe Bucs Fan:

"“[Trask] doesn’t preclude you from anything,” Bowles said. “It’s going to be a competition at every spot – that’s going to be every year. As long as [I’ve] been a coach, there’s going to be competition. We’ll look at everybody. We’ll try to take the best players available. We’ll see who can help us, who can try to help us, but Kyle will compete. He’s the only one on the roster right now.”"

Entering the offseason, Trask is the only quarterback under contract for the Bucs. Someone will be signed in free agency, but whether he’s a starter or not is yet to be seen. That seems to be true of anyone who steps foot into the Bucs quarterback room, which is the right way for Bowles to approach the situation.

Nobody, not even Trask, wants the starting job handed out by default. It still stands to reason that the best path forward for the Bucs is to start Trask in 2023 to see what they have in him. There’s only one way to find out if he’s the guy and messing around with adding another rookie into the mix doesn’t make a lot of sense.