Reports confirmed on Tuesday that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers plan to add journeyman Teddy Bridgewater to a quarterback room occupied by starter Baker Mayfield and backup Kyle Trask.
While speaking with reporters about the expected transaction, Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht revealed that the club likely would’ve signed Bridgewater in March 2020 had Tom Brady joined a different team that offseason.
“We had him in here in 2014 before the draft,” Licht said about Bridgewater, per Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. “…A few years ago, he was what was behind door No. 2. So, we talked about that today on the sideline. We ended up with Tom Brady, but now we have Teddy on the roster. So, you can have everything, just not all at once.”
The Buccaneers winning the Brady sweepstakes in early 2020 proved to be a franchise-altering event. In his first season with the organization, the future Hall of Famer guided the club to a Super Bowl LV victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. Brady then led Tampa Bay to the playoffs in back-to-back seasons before he retired from playing in February 2023.
Meanwhile, Bridgewater went 4-11 across 15 starts with the 2020 Carolina Panthers. More recently, he made a relief appearance for the Detroit Lions in their divisional-round playoff loss to the Washington Commanders this past January.
The Buccaneers signing Bridgewater could understandably cause some fans to wonder if Tampa Bay is ready to give up on Trask. A 2021 second-round draft pick, Trask has thus far recorded a total of 11 career regular-season pass attempts. He has never started a meaningful game as a pro and has become somewhat of a forgotten figure ever since he lost a competition for the Buccaneers’ QB1 job to Mayfield in the summer of 2023.
“We still have some preseason games to play and all that,” Licht added during his comments. “But right now, Kyle is our backup — that’s the intention, and that’s what we’re hoping for. But everybody’s competing.”
If nothing else, it certainly appears that Trask now has an extra reason to want to play well in Tampa Bay’s preseason opener against the Tennessee Titans this coming Saturday.
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