At this point in training camp most fans know which positions battles to pay attention to. Folks outside of Tampa might be surprised to learn that quarterback is a spot on the roster that is totally up for grabs.
Baker Mayfield isn’t losing his job anytime soon, who fills the role of his backup is a little less defined. Kyle Trask started Saturday’s preseason opener — and played pretty well — but the team made a move earlier in the week that shook things up.
The Bucs signed Teddy Bridgewater after he came in for a workout, something that was downplayed publicly but might be more than it seems based on recent comments from Trask.
After Saturday’s win over the Titans, Trask was asked about the team signing Bridgewater and gave a little bit of a messy answer. It’s not that Trask said something that was out of line, rather his honesty was pretty revealing.
He told reporters that he ‘never got a direct answer’ as to why the Bucs signed Bridgewater, which seems way more complicated than it needs to be.
#Bucs QB Kyle Trask was asked what the team told him about their decision to bring in Teddy Bridgewater. “I never got a direct answer,” he said. pic.twitter.com/RpL6lJw2aR
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) August 10, 2025
You’d think it would be pretty easy for the team to tell Trask that Bridgewater was being brought in as an extra arm after injuries to Mayfield and Michael Pratt. After all, that’s the line that was given in public when reporters passed along word that the deal was going down.
So why is it so hard for the Bucs to give the same line to Trask?
Buccaneers seem to have a QB controversy on their hands with Kyle Trask and Teddy Bridgewater
Not giving a straight answer suggests we have a quarterback battle on our hands for who will win the job of QB2. Trask has the inside track thanks to continuity and the way he played on Saturday, but his comments leads us to believe that might not be enough to close the case.
Trask has been with the Bucs since 2021 and has gone through a few different phases. It was assumed he was being drafted to develop into the successor to Tom Brady, especially since a second-round pick was used to take him, but that never happened. He barely saw the field, even in garbage time, and only saw real action when Baker Mayfield has missed a few plays due to injury.
His time on the field has never been sustained, yet the Bucs used a contractual loophole to re-sign Trask in free agency. The loyalty suggests Tampa Bay wants him as their backup, but not giving him a straight answer after signing another quarterback is odd.
Tampa Bay’s starters will see some action against the Steelers on Saturday, but Bridgewater is expected to get a fair amount of work after not playing at all against Tennessee. If he plays well, Trask’s comments about the Bucs being unnecessarily mysterious will be even easier to read into.
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