Jenna LaineESPN Staff Writer4 Minute Reading
Kyle Trask finds Trey Palmer for a Bucs TD
Buccaneers QB Kyle Trask lobbed a pass into the end zone, where Trey Palmer put it in the air before catching it for a touchdown.
Currently, it is expected that Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask will play in that game.
“We don’t have a timetable on it,” said Bowles when asked when he would name a starter. “We’ll name it when we name it. We feel comfortable where we are, so we’ll go from there.”
No determination is made about who starts the game or how the reps are divided. Right now, the Bucs only have two healthy quarterbacks, though, with John Wolford suffering a neck injury in the second half Saturday night against the New York Jets in Tampa Bay’s second preseason game.
If Bowles does indeed wait until after the third preseason game to name a starter, the team will be given two weeks to practice with a starter. Bowles said he’s not worried about the lack of continuity in that segment.
“They’ve had it all camp; they’ve had it all spring. We’re not worried about the continuity part — everybody’s getting a lot of reps together,” Bowles said. “The two weeks are good for us. We just need game time, for everyone to play.”
Mayfield started the first preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, with Trask coming on in the second quarter. The initial plan against the Jets was for Trask to start and Mayfield to step in. But Bowles made an announcement and chose to sit Mayfield, leading some to speculate that Mayfield won the starting job, since Bowles made several starters this preseason.
But Bowles’ explanation was that they wanted to see Trask, who had only played in one regular-season NFL game before, run a two-minute drill to end the half. But then instead of Mayfield coming in for the second half, it was Wolford, who played the third quarter before suffering a neck injury. Trask returns to Wolford.
“It’s all about whether we keep the offensive line going in the ball game,” Bowles said. “We really wanted to see Kyle in a two-minute situation, so when we got to a two-minute situation and Kyle got into that, we didn’t really want to play Baker in the second half because he was changing we’re on the line. We want John to get some work done, so we’re off [Mayfield] out.”
In long action Saturday night, Trask managed to throw his first preseason touchdown — a 33-yard pass to rookie Trey Palmer on a post route — and he didn’t turn the ball over, which an improvement from the first preseason game. against the Steelers, where he was picked off on his first possession. So far this preseason, Trask has completed 26 of 38 pass attempts for 317 yards, with one touchdown, one interception and one fumble (it was caught by tight end Cade Otton).
Mayfield, on the other hand, completed 8 of 9 passes for 63 yards, a touchdown (also to Palmer) and no interceptions against the Steelers.
Bowles explained that the starter’s decision will involve more than preseason games, with performance in practice. In that regard, Trask had fewer interceptions than Mayfield, but Mayfield also made more plays.
The players indicated that they want to know soon who will be the starter in order to improve chemistry and give the starter enough reps. From OTAs to minicamp, Mayfield and Trask have split reps, while over the past three years, with Tom Brady at the helm, Brady has taken roughly 70% of the snaps.
Wide receiver Mike Evans said earlier this week, “We want to know who’s going to start soon so we can continue to work and he can control the offense.”