Baker Mayfield seems to have a lot of leverage in his contract negotiations with the Bucs, whose best backup plan if he departs could be backup quarterback Kyle Trask, believe it or not.

Mayfield might be the best quarterback in a very shallow free agent market. And with the team picking at No. 26 in the first round, Tampa Bay may see four or five quarterbacks selected before the Bucs are on the clock. Tampa Bay already has a 2021 second-round pick invested in Trask, who is entering a contract year with very little experience.

Bucs general manager Jason Licht indicated that Trask could be next in line to replace Mayfield if the team does not reach an agreement with the starting quarterback, and he departs in free agency.

“You always have to have, as [former Bucs head coach] Bruce [Arians] would say, look behind door two and three and four and five,” Licht said. “So yeah, we always feel like we need options. Door No. 2 that’s right here.”

If Trask is door No. 2, door No. 3 could be another free agent quarterback to compete with him in the event Mayfield isn’t re-signed.

Aside from Mayfield, Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins, who turns 36 this year and is coming off a torn Achilles tendon, is the only other viable option in free agency. Yet his 1-4 record in the postseason and his high price tag is off-putting, and I’m told the Bucs would not be interested.

Russell Wilson, 35, was just released from Denver and his once bright star is fading fast in the NFL as his skills diminish. After Wilson it’s slim pickings with oft-injured Ryan Tannehill, 35, and NFL journeymen like Gardner Minshew, Jacoby Brissett, Tyrod Taylor and Sam Darnold.

The Bucs still feel good about Mayfield re-signing, whether that happens this weekend prior to free agency or at the start of it early next week. But Licht also seems pretty confident that Trask could be in the mix for the starting job to consider him as “door No. 2.”

Kyle Trask Has Had To Bide His Time – Again
Bucs backup quarterback Kyle Trask is used to waiting for his turn to start – even if it can be frustrating at times. In high school, Trask was behind D’Eriq King, who went on to start at quarterback for Houston and Miami. When he got to Florida, Trask had to wait behind Feleipe Franks before finally getting the chance to start during three games into his junior year.

When he was drafted by Tampa Bay in 2021, he was the team’s third-string quarterback for two years behind starter Tom Brady and backup Blaine Gabbert. Last year, he moved up a spot on the depth chart, but couldn’t beat out Baker Mayfield for the starting job.

Trask has only appeared in two regular season NFL games, completing 3-of-9 passes for 23 yards in the fourth quarter of a meaningless Week 18 loss at Atlanta in 2022. Last year he played two plays and threw an incompletion at Indianapolis until Mayfield shook off a first quarter knee injury.

New Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen had some favorable things to say about Trask during his first press conference in Tampa Bay back in February.

“I actually watched Kyle Trask a good amount coming out during that COVID year in 2021 and I watched him throw an unbelievable seed against the Colts in the back of the right of the end zone to Godwin, which wound up being incomplete,” Coen said. “But I think he’s got some accuracy and some ability.”

Trask made some real strides in his development during training camp last year and actually outperformed Mayfield during the first week of practices. In three preseason games last August, Trask completed 65.2% of his passes for 509 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Trask had thrown just one touchdown and two interceptions in each of his first two preseasons in Tampa Bay during the 2021 and 2022 preseasons.

Whether or not Trask does get an opportunity to compete for the Bucs starting job again if Mayfield doesn’t return, the Bucs should draft another quarterback regardless. Trask is entering a contract year and is largely unproven. As Pewter Report has written about before in an article titled Bucs Had The Right Idea In Drafting Kyle Trask, Tampa Bay needs to continue to draft quarterbacks for depth and competition.

This franchise has yet to draft a quarterback and re-sign him to a second contract. That is an incredibly bad statistic considering the Bucs have been around since 1976 and have drafted five quarterbacks in the first round and two in the second round, including Trask. The Bucs need to keep investing at the quarterback position until they hit on one.

If Kyle Trask gets his shot at taking over as the starting quarterback if Baker Mayfield signs elsewhere maybe he can buck that trend.