The PR Bucs Monday Mailbag is where PewterReport.com’s Mark Cook answers your questions from our Twitter account. You can submit your question each week via Twitter using the hashtag #PRMailbag.

Below are the questions we chose for this week’s edition of the PR Bucs Monday Mailbag.

Question: Do the Bucs draft a QB next year or do they go all in for the Super Bowl again and kick that can down the road one more year?

Answer: I think that is yet to be determined, for a lot of reasons. First and foremost is college scouting is going to be a mess due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With so many conferences bowing out already, or postponing until the spring, and that’s even if the other conferences can play and the pandemic situation is under control by the spring. There are just so many unknowns.

Secondly, will there even be a complete 2020 NFL season? If the league starts up and shuts down say a quarter of the way through, then I think we see 2020 just get essentially pushed back to 2021. Meaning contracts just skip a year and everyone just pretends 2020 didn’t even happen. If that occurs then the Buccaneers feel like Tom Brady is pretty much set to still fulfill his contract and play until at least 2022.

Either way I don’t know that quarterback is high on the priority scale in the near future. The Bucs expect to get deep into the playoffs if not further, and that would mean a draft slot in the high 20’s, preferably at No. 32. Franchise quarterbacks are rarely found that late. Clearly Brady is the exception to that rule and the Cowboys are pretty happy with their current fourth round selected starter in Dak Prescott.

But if we look at the Top 10 quarterbacks in 2019, the majority of them were drafted well prior to No. 32. Patrick Mahomes, Jared Goff, Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz, Lamar Jackson and so on, are examples. Again, Brady, Prescott, and Russell Wilson are exceptions to the rule. But if the Bucs have someone with a mid-first round grade and they fell to the mid-to-late 20’s, they certainly could pull the trigger. And who better to learn from for a couple of years than Brady?

I still think it would take a special circumstance to see the Bucs take a quarterback early, and at this point who knows who the top guys will even be. Was Joe Burrow on anyone’s first round radar a year ago? Then add in the fact there could be no 2020 college football season, and it muddies the water considerably.

Question: Does having have a QB like Tom Brady as the leader of the offense make you a little less nervous that there is no preseason games?

Answer: Without question it makes me less nervous, and the organization as well. This isn’t the Bengals trying to get Joe Burrow ready, or even the Panthers who are installing a brand new scheme on top of having a new quarterback who is on his third team like Teddy Bridgewater. What hasn’t Brady seen that defenses are going to throw at him? Very little.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be some early season struggles and hiccups. Not for just Brady, but his receivers as well. Teams can only simulate so much on a high school field in shorts and a t-shirt, or even practicing against your own team like the Bucs and the rest of the NFL will face this year without preseason games.

Mike Biehl, John Spytek and Bucs scouts – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Getting on the same page won’t be easy as Bruce Arians’ offense incorporates option routes requiring the receiver and the quarterback to be able to read and decipher what the defense is doing, with much of that happening after the ball is snapped. Does the cornerback sit down in a zone, or more disguise and play man coverage? Is the nickel corner working to that side of the field and is the safety reading the quarterback’s eyes or the receiver’s route? Once the receiver determines what the defense is doing he has rules where to finish his route. And both the receiver and QB need to be seeing the same thing. I have no doubt in Brady’s ability to get the ball out to the proper spot in most cases, but the receivers? We saw a number of Bucs’ receivers cost the team and Jameis Winston interceptions last season by not correctly reading what the defensive backs were doing. And that was with Winston and the receivers having a full offseason, training camp and preseason to get it together.

I suspect due to the lack of reps against other teams prior to the season, Arians and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich may cut down on calling plays with option routes or amend the playbook a little to offset the lack of chemistry that Brady and his targets will develop by not having a proper offseason.

Question: I’m really excited about Antoine Winfield in our secondary. Is my hype warranted?

Answer: I think the hype is warranted when looking at Winfield’s talent, size and intangibles. Add in the fact he grew up with an excellent teacher in his father, Antoine Sr., a 14-year veteran of the NFL and three-time Pro Bowler, and Winfield Jr. was born to play in the NFL at a high level.

Bucs FS Antoine Winfield, Jr. – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

But as mentioned earlier, if no preseason will have an effect on even a 20-year veteran like Tom Brady, it most certainly hurts Winfield’s development, early on at least. Defensive backs, whether corners or safeties, struggle early for the most part, even with a full offseason, and it takes them a while to get in a groove and understand the speed of the game. Add in the complexity of defensive coordinator Todd Bowles’ scheme and it is hard for me to see Winfield lining up in Week 1 to face Drew Brees and the Saints.

In the long run Winfield will likely be the starter, and hopefully for years to come. But early on, despite having all the talent in the world, I wouldn’t count on him vying for Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Question: Having no preseason games is going to hurt which drafted rookie the most?

Bucs RT Tristan Wirfs – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Answer: Offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs. Playing the most physical position in football, the offensive line, and trying to come in and be a day one starter without even playing a preseason game, is a tall task to ask of anyone, even a No. 12 overall draft pick. And it isn’t just the physical reps as a pass blocker Wirfs has been denied, it is the mental part of the game as well. The 70-plus snaps against some of the best defensive lineman in football, the conditioning it takes to play three hours on Sunday in the Tampa heat, and understanding the playbook in the run game too.

All 53 guys who make the final roster will be affected by no preseason, but of the rookies, no one has more pressure and is at a bigger disadvantage than Wirfs. That doesn’t mean he can’t and won’t succeed, but we can probably count on his game being much cleaner come December than it will be during the first month of the season.