Report: Kyle Trask will compete for Buccaneers starting QB job in 2023

Former Florida Gators quarterback Kyle Trask will get an opportunity to start for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next season, according to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times.

That was the deal for any offensive coordinator who came in and replaced Byron Leftwich for the 2023 season, according to the report. The job went to Dave Canales, who’ll coach under Todd Bowles next year.

Trask and Blaine Gabbert are the only two quarterbacks on the current roster after Tom Brady retired for good. 

Canales, a former Seahawks assistant, was complimentary of Trask when he spoke to local media after accepting the job in Tampa.

“He was able to distribute and the thing we’re going to help Kyle continue to build on here is just be a point guard,” Canales said. “Point guards don’t have to be the ones that score all the points, you just distribute. Play on time, get the ball out of your hands, life’s better that way. You’ve got these bears chasing you, get rid of the ham and that’s the football. Just teaching him those principles, allowing him to be a distributor.”

Trask was a second round pick (No. 64 overall) in 2021 out of Florida by the Bucs and projected as a potential successor to Brady. Trask did not appear in a game as a rookie and had just one appearance in 2022 during the regular season.

The former Gators star completed just three-of-nine passes for 23 yards.

If Trask takes command of the Bucs offense in 2023, he’ll have to beat out Gabbert and potentially a veteran brought in by the team. But he proved he could play at a high level, at least at Florida.

Trask played well in 2019 and then broke out as a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2020, his final season on campus. During that year, Trask threw for 4,238 yards, 43 touchdowns, eight interceptions and a 68.9% completion percentage.

In his career at Florida, Trask threw for 7,386 yards, 69 touchdowns, 15 interceptions and a 67.9% completion percentage.

Perhaps the patience could pay off for Trask, who sat behind Brady for the last two years. ESPN’s Jeff Darlington reported Trask was likely to be QB1 come September.

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“The Bucs, from my conversations with the organization, they do feel like, at least, Kyle Trask is likely to be the guy under center,” Darlington said. “I feel pretty confident that they’re going in that direction, whether that’s due to some salary cap concerns because they did go all in on Tom Brady these past couple of years to try to build around him. And now they do have to pay a little bit of that price.”