“From my conversations with the organization, they do feel like Kyle Trask is likely to be the guy under center,” Darlington said. “I feel pretty confident that they’re going in that direction.”
A second-round pick in 2021, Trask has only played 10 regular season snaps and attempted nine career passes. During his college career, he threw for 7,386 yards and 69 touchdowns, ranking eighth and sixth in school history.
Trask threw for 4,283 yards and 43 touchdowns in his final season in Gainesville, both single-season school records. He led the country in passing and total touchdowns (46) and finished fourth in Heisman Trophy voting.
Although Trask hasn’t started a game in the NFL, the one division where he could establish himself as the top QB would be in the NFC South. With every team having a question mark at QB, Darlington says it has Buccaneers GM Jason Licht feeling more confident in his young signal-caller.
“I think he [Licht] also believes Kyle Trask has what it takes to be a winner in this league,” said Darlington. “And he looks around the division, and he says, well, we’ve got the best quarterback in the division at the very least.”
Trask’s adjustment to playing in new OC Dave Canales’ system will be intriguing since his only experience during his pro career has been in Byron Leftwich’s scheme.
Tampa Bay introduced the former Seattle QB coach on Wednesday. He praised Trask’s ability to spread the ball around and not overcomplicate things in college and hopes he’ll do the same as the team’s “point guard.”
“The thing that we’re going to help Kyle continue to build on here is to just be a point guard,” Canales said. “Point guards don’t have to be the ones to score all the points – you just distribute.”
Under Canales, Geno Smith won Comeback Player of the Year, so maybe another one of the coordinator’s QBs will make an unexpected splash.
Considering the Buccaneers’ investment in him, it’s worth a shot to determine if Trask can be a quality starter. If he flops, the team can quickly find a replacement. Several promising QB prospects should be available in the 2024 NFL Draft.
