Thanks to Tom Brady’s un-retirement, the Bucs will bring back their entire quarterback room from last season. That’s a good thing because Brady is still on top of his game at age 44, and the Bucs have good depth at the QB position.

Yet Brady’s return signals less opportunity for second-year quarterback Kyle Trask, the team’s second-round pick in 2021. During Tuesday’s media availability with the Bucs offensive assistant coaches, quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen all but confirmed it.

Christensen says that this season is another developmental year for Trask. He declared Blaine Gabbert the backup QB before a single rep is taken in camp.

Bucs QB Kyle Trask and QBs coach Clyde Christensen – Photo by: USA Today

“I think it’s more of a learning year,” Christensen said. “I don’t see him competing with Gabbert this year. Although you know, he can do it it’s just all the odds are stacked against you. You can’t rep everybody, it’s hard enough to get Gabbert enough reps. We’ll prepare Gabbert as the number two. There’s always competition. There’s always someone looking for you job, but I don’t see that being an either or. I see Gabbert as being the back up and Kyle [Trask] being the developmental guy and we’ll rep them that way.”

Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich didn’t quite see it the same way saying that nobody has a spot yet. It appears head coach Todd Bowles shares that sentiment. Speaking with the media on Friday, Bowles made it clear that everyone is competing, and Trask will have the opportunity to win the No. 2 job behind Brady.

“There’s competition everywhere, so there will be competition at that spot as well,” Bowles said. “Blaine finished the season at number two – we like Blaine. Trask is going to get his chance to play and compete and if he’s better, he’ll be number two. If he’s not, he won’t be. But, he will have a chance to compete. He knows that and everybody knows that.”

Trask needs to seize the opportunity ahead of him, especially with a lot of the reps in OTAs he’s on pace to receive. As Christensen noted, the Bucs will showcase him in the OTAs and make an assessment about his progress afterwards.

The key will be to show he’s deserving of more reps in August and that he’s ready to compete with Gabbert in training camp. The next three weeks will be a big one for Trask and his spot on the depth chart this year.