The Tampa Bay Buccaneers continued with their roster cuts ahead of Tuesday’s deadline, this time at the quarterback position.
After a strong preseason, the expectation was that Kyle Trask would at least begin the season as the backup behind Baker Mayfield.
After all, Trask had the edge in familiarity as he entered his fifth season with the team since being drafted in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft, while Bridgewater came out of retirement to sign with the team only a few weeks ago.
Bridgewater appeared in only one preseason game, and while he did toss two impressive touchdowns, he completed only 6-of-11 passes, and had a small sample size in a Bucs uniform for the coaching staff to evaluate.
The move isn’t surprising from a pure football standpoint — Bridgewater is clearly the more proven quarterback. Trask has still never started a regular-season game, while Bridgewater has 65 career starts under his belt.
His experience as a starter will give the Buccaneers some peace of mind knowing that if disaster strikes at the quarterback position, the fate of the season won’t lie in the hands of a player in Trask who has never started a game.
Where the decision becomes surprising is on the business side of things. The expectation was that Bridgewater would begin the year on the practice squad, dressing on Sundays as the emergency third-string quarterback.
That maneuver would have kept him off the 53-man roster and prevented his salary from being guaranteed as a vested veteran.
Instead, the Buccaneers are clearly content with guaranteeing Bridgewater’s 2025 salary and rolling with him as the No. 2 over longtime backup quarterback Trask, who will now begin searching for a fresh start.
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