The big news in the NFL on Wednesday was Tom Brady, who has been the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback for the past three years, announced his retirement. He will certainly go down as one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game after winning numerous Super Bowls with the New England Patriots as well as winning an additional Super Bowl with the Bucs.
While there is always the chance Tom Brady could return, as he did last year after announcing his retirement, the Bucs must focus on the future. They have a challenge of addressing the most important position on the field and who they want to step in as the quarterback.
While they could go the veteran route and sign a quarterback like Baker Mayfield or trade for a quarterback like Derek Carr, the fact of the matter is this team wasn’t very good even with Tom Brady under center. Todd Bowles has said he doesn’t want to rebuild but reload but if they want to have sustained success they need to look for a long-term answer at the position.
Kyle Trask should replace Tom Brady as the Buccaneers’ quarterback
The Bucs should avoid the temptation of adding a veteran quarterback and instead commit to Kyle Trask, who they drafted in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft. Trask was the starting quarterback for the Florida Gators in 2019 and 2020 and had 68 passing touchdowns to only 15 interceptions.
He has the size and arm strength to be successful in the NFL but doesn’t have the best mobility. However, in an offense with players like Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Rachaad White, and Cade Otten he has talent around him to be successful if he can be smart with the ball and get it in these players’ hands.
If the Bucs want to give Trask the best chance to be successful, the focus should be on improving an offensive line that really struggled this past season.
The past three years the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did all they could to try and win a Super Bowl, and rightfully so with Tom Brady towards the end of his career. The focus now should be to build around a young quarterback that they already invested a high draft pick in instead of trying to fix it with a short-term answer.