Buccaneers' Quarterback Battle Most Likely Ended Against Jets

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in the middle of a quarterback competition between Kyle Trask and Baker Mayfield, and it took a frustrating turn on Saturday night.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaches Todd Bowles and Dave Canales have led us to believe that Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask are firmly in the middle of a starting job throw-down that is potentially going to last to the end of the preseason. 

It looks like that end actually arrived before the Buccaneers took the field Saturday night to play the New York Jets in the second of their three preseason contests.

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Suprisingly enough, it’s not what Mayfield did against the Jets compared to what Trask didn’t do that leads us to this conclusion.

No, that’s the comparison we were looking to make entering the game. 

Instead, it’s the fact that Trask completed 16 of his 23 pass attempts for 122 yards and one touchdown in his first stretch, (NOTE: Trask had been pulled from the game and third string quarterback John Wolford had been put in. Trask had to come back in after Wolford was injured near the end of the third quarter adding more stats to his line for the evening.) while Mayfield’s first stretch came before the game and his last likely came on the sideline while he watched his teammates count down to the end of their second preseason game. 

For those counting at home, that’s zero snaps for Mayfield in Week 3 of the NFL Preseason - many more for Trask. 

You know who else didn’t get any snaps Saturday?

Starters. 

Most of them, in fact.

You know who got a lot of snaps?

Backups.

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It doesn’t take an Ira Kaufman insider report to know what’s happening here.

Tampa Bay has clearly - although unconfirmed at the time of this writing - made the decision to move forward with Mayfield as its starter for the 2023 NFL Season, and they decided to announce it without the benefit of an actual announcement. 

Interesting strategy. Now let’s see how it works out following one more preseason game and a few more weeks worth of practices.

Find David Harrison on Twitter @DHarrison82

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