Are Bucs rolling the dice with Kyle Trask behind Baker Mayfield?

TAMPA BAY, Fla. — Kyle Trask is the master of the mental rep. The career understudy. A sideline savant.

Entering his fourth NFL season, he has started zero of 51 regular season games, appearing in just three (simply taking a knee in one). He has thrown only 10 career passes, completing three.

The former Gators star was No. 3 on the depth chart behind Tom Brady and Blaine Gabbert from 2021-22. Last year, he lost a competition for the starting job to Baker Mayfield during training camp.

Trask entered Saturday’s preseason opener at Cincinnati “ahead by a little bit” of John Wolford in the battle for the No. 2 job, said head coach Todd Bowles, who added, “we’ve got to play some games.”

This is the time of year Mr. August can shine.

“It’s pretty much what I’ve been doing my whole life at this point, like, throughout my whole career, so I just keep preparing like I’ve always prepared,” Trask said Wednesday. “... But at the same time, still supporting those around me and doing everything I can to contribute with the role that I currently have.”

But Bowles has declared the Buccaneers a championship contender, telling his players the first day of training camp that their only expectations “have got to be the Super Bowl.”

What if Mayfield were to become injured and forced to miss a game? It’s fair to wonder: Will Trask be able to hold the rope?

The truth is, nobody knows for sure. But not many Super Bowl contenders are starting the season with a backup quarterback who has never really played.

Wolford appeared in seven games with the Rams between 2020-22, starting four and posting a 2-2 record. He’s even appeared in a playoff game. But at 28, he spent last season on the Bucs’ practice squad.

When you look at most of the Super Bowl contenders, they have a backup who at least has played. In many cases, that player is a one-time starter or top draft pick.

The Rams have Jimmy Garoppolo behind Matthew Stafford. The Eagles No. 2 is Kenny Pickett. The 49ers’ backup is Josh Dobbs. Taylor Heinicke and Michael Penix will back up Falcons starter Kirk Cousins. If Dak Prescott goes down, the Cowboys can turn to Cooper Rush or Trey Lance.

How much consideration did the Bucs give to signing a more experienced quarterback behind Mayfield?

“Not much, because we like Kyle” Bowles said. “He’s done some very good things. He just has to play, I think. He’s very poised. I think he’s a very good quarterback, and given an opportunity I think we have full confidence in him because he plays like that and he plays older. He understands the system.

“Kyle is a good player. He just came in and, you know, Tom was here and then Baker beat him out. He just needs opportunity. It doesn’t mean we think less of him.”

To be fair, the Bucs could not have done much more to stunt Trask’s growth as a quarterback.

While he had the advantage of watching a living legend like Brady prepare for games for two seasons, this is the third offense Trask has had to learn in as many years. He’s gone from Byron Leftwich to Dave Canales and now Liam Coen.

“Obviously, it’s not ideal, from a quarterback standpoint, to switch offenses frequently, but it happens to a lot of people,” Trask said. “... I understand that it’s kind of part of the NFL.”

Entering Saturday’s game, Trask’s preseason numbers weren’t bad but also nothing to shout about. He had completed 117 of 191 passes (61%) for 1,278 yards with four touchdowns and five interceptions.

However, he rarely gets to have the full complement of starting receivers, such as Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, in the preseason. Of course, he’s not competing against many Pro Bowl starters, either.

The challenge this year is for Trask to grasp an offense that gives the quarterback a lot more freedom to change plays at the line of scrimmage.

“I think I’ve been putting in the most time that I’ve ever put in right now, because it’s my fourth year, but also it’s just a more complex offense,” Trask said. “I have to go in there and keep the ball rolling, keep the ball moving, because, you know, this is a very talented team, and if I have to do that I want to be able to do it successfully.”

Trask has never been afraid of extra work, and it’s one of the things that has endeared him to Bucs coaches. He doesn’t complain about his role. He is typically the first player on the practice field and among the last to leave, taking extra throws whenever he can get them.

“I would say you (have) to sacrifice some free time, for sure,” Trask said. “... Stay late, come here early, get as many mental reps as you can, because obviously there’s only so many physical reps you can get out here, no matter who you are. We might install a play, we might run it once or twice tops, a practice.”

But if you watch Trask in practice, he doesn’t always complete a high percentage of passes. He’s missed some open receivers down the field, plays that can cost a team games.

Yet, Trask could be a better teammate than he is a quarterback. He has gone out of his way this season to help rookies and new players, setting up a group chat with running back Bucky Irving, and receivers Sterling Shepard and Cephus Johnson.

“You don’t really know what you’re walking into,” Trask said of new players. “It is a lot, and I tell the young guys as much as I can, ‘Ask me any question you have. Like, there is no dumb question,’ because I remember being a rookie and I had a million questions. Half of them, I thought, were stupid questions, so I would never ask them.

“I send them the voice memos every night. That way everyone can visualize and walk through on their own, because you can look at a play on a sheet of paper, but then when you come out here and they call it in your headset and you’re verbalizing it, that’s a different way to process it.”

All that is great. But what if Mayfield is out and the Bucs need to win one game to reach the playoffs or even go to the Super Bowl? Would Bowles have any trouble sleeping the night before that game, given that Trask has never made a regular-season start?

“I will live with him winning or losing that ballgame,” Bowles said. “Because I think he will step up.”

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