No Surprise: Buccaneers Name Baker Mayfield Starting QB Over Kyle Trask

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From the "comes as no surprise department," Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles announced on Tuesday that Baker Mayfield is the team's starting quarterback. That makes 2021 second-round pick Kyle Trask the team's backup for the third-straight season.

As I wrote on Sunday, all signs pointed to this decision. At the time, though, Bowles declined to put a "timetable" on the decision that he said had not yet been made.

But everything the Buccaneers did this weekend said otherwise.

From Sunday's story:

Kyle Trask started the Buccaneers preseason game against the New York Jets on Saturday. He played the entire first half. John Wolford took over but suffered a serious injury and left the field on a stretcher.

Bowles elected to send Trask back into the game to replace Wolford, rather than use Mayfield. So Trask played nearly the entire preseason game. That’s not a great sign for someone fighting for the No. 1 quarterback job.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles officially named Baker Mayfield the team’s starting quarterback over Kyle Trask.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles officially named Baker Mayfield the team’s starting quarterback over Kyle Trask. (Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

After the game, Bowles explained that he didn’t want Mayfield playing behind backup offensive linemen. Also not great news for Trask, who Bowles apparently had no issues sending out there with replacement linemen in front of him.

“Trask was warmer at the time, and we took out the line and he was ready to go,” Bowles said, according to NFL.com. “We were going to play Baker at the end of the half, but we wanted to see Kyle in the two-minute period, so kind of left him in and then the time kind of went down.

“We wanted to play John in the second half, it wasn’t fair to put Baker in there without the line he had, and Trask was already warmed up so when John got hurt, we just put him back in to finish.”

The Buccaneers start their season on Sunday, September 10 in Minnesota against the Vikings. Mayfield will be under center for that contest.

However, it's likely that Kyle Trask will eventually get a chance to start this season, too.

It just won't be in Week 1.

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Dan began his sports media career at ESPN, where he survived for nearly a decade. Once the Stockholm Syndrome cleared, he made his way to Outkick. He is secure enough in his masculinity to admit he is a cat-enthusiast with three cats, one of which is named “Brady” because his wife wishes she were married to Tom instead of him.