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Bucs offense under complete reconstruction
Kevin O'Donnell reports
TAMPA, Fla. - The 2023 Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a work in progress with the offense under complete reconstruction.
There will be a new starting quarterback this season. The appearance at mini camp is that Baker Mayfield has the lead with Kyle Trask getting equal snaps but is second in rotation. Both feel they're making progress in the competition.
"Offensively, I thought we did some things," said Mayfield. "There were a few turnovers today – obviously, things that we need to clean up. But that’s what happens when you get the full defense back out there."
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"It was solid," said Trask. " I kind of looked at it like a final exam. We’ve been studying all throughout OTAs, and then you’ve got three days to put it altogether. The first day, we’re still working through some things and tightening up some things, but altogether, I think we’re really getting all of the concepts down together well and looking pretty solid."
With the full team required to be at mini camp. Both Mayfield and Trask are getting the chance to not only throw with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, but they're learning from two of the NFL's top receivers about what makes them so great.
"I mean they’re truly as high-level professionals as you can get at the receiver position," said Mayfield. "The way they detail their work, the way they focus on everything. You watch Chris – Chris changes halfway through practice just so he can continue to play at a high level. Mike is always detailing his routes and talking about his steps. To me, the best thing to see is guys at that level who have that success, they could just worry about continuing to improve with only their game, but they’re truly helping out the rest of that room and everybody else.
That’s what makes them special – they’re not trying to keep it for themselves, they’re not selfish, they’re trying to have team success and that’s why they have it."
The Bucs offseason workout are building blocks towards training camp with the team expected to report for camp at the end of July. The Bucs are learning from mistakes that they are making now in the offseason.
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Bucs Head Coach Todd Bowles' defense got to Trask, intercepting him twice on the first day of Mini Camp. But after two months of work, both quarterbacks are starting to get a feel of the style of offense that they will put on display this Fall.
"We obviously have a lot of potential to be explosive, but it’s just going to have to be about taking care of the ball," said Mayfield. "We are going to be able to get into different personnels and similar formations and run very different stuff out of those things. To me, it’s about just staying ahead of the chains and taking care of the ball, and good things will happen. I think everybody here will see the difference in the run game that we will be able to do and that truly will establish what this offense is about, and I’m excited about that. I know the guys up front are, as well."
"I would say it’s unpredictable," said Trask. "You don’t know what you’re going to get. We could come at you a million different ways and then throw it over the top of your head. You just never know. You saw the success they had in Seattle with that philosophy, and I think if you add our weapons into that, we could be very dangerous. I’m really excited to see how this play out in the fall."
Unpredictable and a change from Bruce Arians/Byron Leftwich approach of a heavy passing attack to now a complementary system. The Bucs want to be more balanced splitting passes with runs.