Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Kyle Trask. Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Bucs OC has high praise for Kyle Trask, who lost QB1 job to Baker Mayfield

By Michael Gallagher | Last updated 8/25/23

Although the Tampa Bay Buccaneers claimed Kyle Trask had just as much of a chance to win the starting quarterback job as Baker Mayfield did, the competition ended with the outcome many expected.

However, just because Trask was beat out by Mayfield this time around, that doesn’t mean he didn’t show flashes of being a potential starting quarterback down the road, according to Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales.

“If you watch Kyle's film and you throw on any of the games across the league, you'll see this is a real talent; this is a real starting-level talent at quarterback,” Canales said, via the team’s official website. “He just has [calmness] in the pocket, he's accurate and he just stays cool throughout the whole thing — good or bad series, he's right back on it.”

Reports out of Bucs camp this summer indicate that Mayfield has just been a step ahead of Trask the entire time. That, coupled with his 69 games of starting experience over the last five years, is what the Bucs say won the 28-year-old the starting job, but Trask had his moments during camp that made Bucs coaches take notice.

Kyle Trask saying not so fast my friend pic.twitter.com/0dAL1nf0Kb
— JC Cornell (@CornellNFL) August 16, 2023

Trask didn’t play at all as a rookie after being drafted in the second round by the Bucs in 2021. He made one appearance last year in relief of Tom Brady, going 3 of 9 for 23 yards while playing 10 offensive snaps.

The 25-year-old completed 60 percent of his passes for 99 yards and an interception in Tampa’s preseason opener, but saw an increased workload in his second preseason game last Saturday against the New York Jets.

Kyle Trask threading the needle @ktrask9 | @buccaneers

: Stream #TBvsNYJ on #NFLPlus https://t.co/L9mPiySmuK pic.twitter.com/HheAtHZZiG
— NFL (@NFL) August 20, 2023

Playing 58 snaps, Trask went 20-of-28 with 218 yards passing and two touchdowns in a 13-6 win over New York. While an impressive outing, it wasn’t enough to unseat Mayfield as the front-runner, but it did make some in the locker room realize the competition may have been closer than initially thought.

“We're fortunate…that we didn't just name a starter going into it without giving Kyle a chance to show what he can do, because I think he earned a lot of respect in the locker room, on the coaching staff, in the fanbase for Bucs fans out there to see Kyle is real — he is the real deal,” Canales added. “I couldn't feel any better about our quarterback situation going into Week 1."

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