The Tampa Bay Buccaneers situation at backup quarterback hasn’t improved (or changed) in quite some time.
The backup quarterback spot has been set in stone since the franchise drafted Florida quarterback Kyle Trask in the second round (No. 64 overall) of the 2021 NFL draft. Trask subsequently found himself stuck behind 7-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady for the first 2 seasons of his career and 2-time Pro Bowler Baker Mayfield for the last 2 seasons.
Trask hasn’t even felt the heat of competition in that time — for the backup spot at least — but he can’t stay there forever.
The Buccaneers are at least exploring the idea of a younger quarterback room in 2025 after extending a rookie minicamp invite to record-setting Villanova dual threat quarterback Connor Watkins.
Watkins, 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds, played 6 seasons at Villanova but was only the full-time starter for the last 3 seasons. In that stretch as starter, Watkins put up 8,115 yards of total offense and accounted for a staggering 77 total touchdowns.
Watkins also had a pre-draft visit with the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.
“Watkins is a three-year starter at Villanova — 50 pass TDs, 27 rushing scores over last three years,” FOX Sports NFL reporter Greg Auman wrote on his official X account.
Buccaneers Have Gone Dry at QB in NFL Draft
As of 2025, Trask also holds another strange part of history for the Buccaneers as he’s the only quarterback selected by the franchise in the NFL draft in the last decade.
For general manager Jason Licht, drafting a quarterback remains the source of arguably his biggest miss since he was hired in 2014 — a stretch that includes drafting at least one future Pro Football Hall of Famer in left offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs and putting together a Super Bowl champion roster in 2020.
For Licht, the low moment of his tenure came with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft, when he selected Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston, who thanked the Buccaneers by going 28-42 as the starter over the next 5 seasons and delivering an almost constant stream of terrible off the field headlines.
Licht’s ‘Failure’ Not as Pronounced One Decade Later
While Licht might still feel the sting of what happened with Winston, a closer look shows that Winston’s failure might not be as pronounced as we thought — mainly because history has shown us the 2015 draft is one of the worst in recent memory.
One decade later, the best player taken in the draft is almost certainly wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who was a fifth round pick (No. 146 overall) by the Minnesota Vikings.
Also working in Licht’s favor is that we now know there wasn’t a single franchise quarterback available in 2015. The No. 2 overall pick, Marcus Mariota, was just as big of a bust with the Tennessee Titans as Winston was with the Buccaneers, where he set the NFL record for most interceptions returned for a touchdown (7) in 2019, when he also became the first player in NFL history to throw for 30 or more touchdowns and 30 or more interceptions in a single season.
Of the remaining 5 quarterbacks selected in 2015, only 1 ever became a full time NFL starter for multiple seasons — seventh round pick Trevor Siemian went 13-11 for the Denver Broncos in 2016 and 2017.
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