Kyle Trask Is Bucs’ Starting QB – For Now

Kyle Trask is the Bucs’ starting quarterback – for now.

And by default.

Trask, the former second-round pick who is entering his third year, is currently the only quarterback under contract in Tampa Bay. But there will be the others.

Facing a daunting salary cap situation this year with the team already $56 million over the cap, trading for Aaron Rodgers is out of the question. So is signing an upper-echelon QB like Derek Carr.

Partly due to Tom Brady, who retired from football for good this offseason, the Bucs will be looking for a bargain veteran to come in and compete with Trask for the right to start. Brady has a dead cap hit of $35 million this season that the Bucs have to absorb in order to get their cap situation to be much more manageable in 2024.

“We’ve got to be smart,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said. “It’s still an attractive place to play because we’ve got players around [the quarterback]. They’re not coming to the cupboard bare. At the same time, we’ve got to understand that it takes all guys to win ball games, not just one guy even though we had the greatest player to ever play the ball game. We still have to play team football to win, and that’s what it’s all about. That’s why it’s a team sport.”

A Veteran QB Will Be Added To Compete With Kyle Trask

Bucs general manager Jason Licht used the word “value” when talking about finding free agents. Perhaps a one-year prove-it deal for a veteran journeyman like Jacoby Brissett, Baker Mayfield or Taylor Heinicke is in the cards.