Tampa Bay Buccaneers possibly adding veteran quarterback to roster
Just under two weeks ago the greatest quarterback in NFL history, Tom Brady, decided to un-retire and return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Many thought Brady would remain retired once he made the announcement, making either Kyle Trask or Blaine Gabbert the incumbent starter for the Bucs come the 2022 season. Now that the team knows Brady will be behind center they need to start planning for the GOAT's backup this season, while also looking ahead once he does actually retire.
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While Kyle Trask can continue to learn under Brady right now, he is still unproven and has many question marks surrounding his game at this level. Blaine Gabbert, meanwhile, is a free agent and can be signed elsewhere. Although, the Bucs could ultimately decide to retain him as a backup for another season. However, there are those out there that have already started kicking the tires on another QB that is looking for a home.
Once the Cleveland Browns traded for Deshaun Watson, Baker Mayfield's future as an NFL starting QB became quite thin as other teams started to trade and sign for QBs such as Matt Ryan, Jameis Winston, and Marcus Mariota. Baker could still end up as a starter for a team, but as of now, it is hard to imagine that happening. Shortly after all the quarterback moves, former NFL QB Dan Orlovsky put a tweet into the atmosphere calling for the Bucs to trade for Baker to back up Tom Brady.
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While this sounds odd and unattainable to some, Bucs' GM Jason Licht went on Mad Dog Sports Radio via Sirius XM to talk about the Buccaneers possibly adding a veteran QB to the roster for 2022.
Licht skated around the topic just a bit by touching on the progress of Trask as well as the possibility of retaining Gabbert for another season. However, it's worth noting, that he didn't want to specifically talk about Baker Mayfield (the player on another roster). He did mention that they are exploring options to add a veteran QB to the roster though.
If the Bucs were to trade for Baker Mayfield it would be a great fit for both the future of the Bucs and Mayfield. With the unknown on when Brady could retire the team would set themselves up for life after Brady and Mayfield would get to study and learn under him, sharpening his skills until it was his time.
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What makes this difficult for the Bucs is that Baker is owed about $18 million guaranteed. For this to come to fruition the Browns would need to take on $12 million of that due to the Bucs' cap situation. It is a long shot, but clearly, people are talking, and will be interesting to see what happens with the rest of Baker's career.
