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Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds answers your questions from the @PewterReport Twitter account each week in the Bucs Monday Mailbag. Submit your question to the Bucs Monday Mailbag each week via Twitter using the hashtag #PRMailbag. Here are the questions we chose to answer for this week’s edition.

QUESTION: How are all of these other NFL teams getting alternate uniforms and helmets but the Bucs can’t?

ANSWER: Unless the Bucs are lying to the media and the public and are planning a (pleasant) surprise for the 2022 season, the team won’t be donning their throwback uniforms this year. Tampa Bay chief operating officer Brian Ford said that the Bucs won’t be able to wear their creamsicle orange and white Bucco Bruce uniforms this year due to supply chain issues. Is Nike having a hard time finding orange thread? Might be the case.

Legendary Bucs CB Ronde Barber – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

It is a shame seeing a lot of other teams debuting new alternate uniforms or throwback uniforms this season and the Bucs won’t be able to have theirs in time for the 2022 season. Instead, Tampa Bay will wear them in the 2023 season, according to Ford. Keep in mind that the Bucs did debut their all-pewter look with pewter jerseys during the 2020 season. So Tampa Bay was a little ahead of the game when it came to alternate looks.

And more importantly, the Bucs ditched their old uniforms that they wore from 2014-19 and went back to the classic red and pewter uniforms the team wore from 1997-2013. Fans never embraced those uniforms as the numbers looked like a digital clock. The Bucs did have one variant during that period, a cool Color Rush uniform that featured a red jersey and red pants. If the franchise ditched the digital clock number font and used the current numbers that Color Rush look would be a cool alternate look in the future as well.

QUESTION: Since the creamsicle jerseys won’t come until 2023, do you think the Bucs will unveil the Bucco Bruce helmet with the old school white jersey this year?

ANSWER: The Bucs don’t want to mix and match uniforms from the past and present day. The throwback look featuring the white Bucco Bruce helmets and the orange jerseys with white pants will return in 2023. Although it might be a cool look to see the current white jerseys and white pants with the Bucco Bruce helmet that won’t happen. Tampa Bay did wear white-on-white a lot during the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.

The hold up this year isn’t the white helmets. For example, the Patriots will be donning their old Pat Patriot white helmets this year for a throwback look. From my understanding it’s the actual orange and white uniforms that couldn’t be produced in time.

With Tampa Bay having three jerseys – red, white and pewter – and two pants – pewter and white – in its current ensemble, it will be interesting to see which uniform combo is worn most this year. Last year saw the Bucs wear the white jersey and pewter pants combo the most, as that uniform was worn 10 times in the regular season and twice in the playoffs. Tampa Bay only wore its red jerseys five times (matched with pewter pants only twice) and the pewter jerseys once.

QUESTION: Will Tampa Bay add any surprise veteran player before Week 1? Also will Gronk return to Bucs at some point this year?

ANSWER: Yes, the Bucs will add a surprise veteran player before Week 1. Tampa Bay is not done adding players. The Bucs just added veteran tight end Kyle Rudolph last week in the wake of Rob Gronkowski’s retirement. I would suspect G.M. Jason Licht and coach Todd Bowles will add a veteran pass rusher. They might want to get an extended look in camp at youngsters like Cam Gill and Elijah Ponder first. But I wouldn’t rule out the eventual return of Carl Nassib, or adding a new experienced edge rusher like Trey Flowers. Nassib and Shaq Barrett worked so well together in the first half of the 2019 season.

Former Bucs OLB Carl Nassib – Photo by: Mary Holt/PR

If the receiving corps – outside of Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Russell Gage – doesn’t impress in camp the Bucs might add another receiver. Julio Jones could help the team if the price is right. Tampa Bay might want to see how the likes of Breshad Perriman, Cyril Grayson, Jr., Scotty Miller, Tyler Johnson, Jaelon Darden and others perform first before making a call to Jones.

As for Gronkowski, I would be surprised if he doesn’t return by at least midseason. He swears he’s retired right now. But if Tom Brady calls him for help in November I think Gronk could return for a late-season role. The future Hall of Famer saw Antonio Brown join at midseason in 2020 and win a Super Bowl.

QUESTION: Is there any chance Tampa Bay trades for Jessie Bates?

ANSWER: No, the Bucs appear to be set at safety right now and won’t trade for Bengals safety Jessie Bates. Antoine Winfield, Jr. is coming off his first Pro Bowl season and Mike Edwards is in a contract year. Tampa Bay also added veterans Logan Ryan and Keanu Neal in the offseason. All four players will play. Todd Bowles feels like the safety position is as strong as its been since he arrived in 2019.

The 25-year old Bates was given the franchise tag by Cincinnati this offseason, and there has been speculation that the Bengals might trade him. But a team would have to take on Bates franchise tag salary to make it happen. There are more needy teams out there than Tampa Bay when it comes to potentially trading for James. So the cost to acquire the second-team All-Pro in 2020 might be a steep one.

The Bucs really value the safety position and were poised to select Georgia safety Lewis Cine with their first pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. But Minnesota drafted Cine with the final pick in the first round and Tampa Bay selected Houston defensive tackle Logan Hall with the top pick in the second round. It worked out even better for the Bucs as Cine would have been a want, while Hall filled a need at defensive tackle.

QUESTION: Assuming this is Tom Brady’s last year, do you think the team look at a rookie or try to sign a vet QB under Todd Bowles? I personally think he’d want a vet.

ANSWER: What sunk Todd Bowles’ career as the Jets head coach from 2015-18 was instability at the quarterback position. The team started five QBs – Ryan Fitzpatrick, Bryce Petty, Geno Smith, Josh McCown and Sam Darnold – in Bowles’ four seasons in New York. That’s a recipe for failure, and it was for Bowles.

Bucs QB Kyle Trask – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The 2022 season may indeed Tom Brady’s final season in Tampa Bay. If that’s the case, Bowles and general manager Jason Licht need to have a plan at quarterback in 2023. Or Bowles could run into the same issues that derailed his first stint as a head coach. Is Kyle Trask a viable option? The Bucs don’t know, but look for Bowles to find out this August. Tampa Bay already knows what it has with veteran backups Blaine Gabbert and Ryan Griffin. It’s time to see what the 2021 second-round pick can do under center.

Expect Trask to play the most of any quarterback in the three preseason games. It’s unknown whether Bowles has the same affection for Gabbert that former head coach Bruce Arians had. The guess here is that he might not after facing Gabbert in practice for the last three years. But Trask is the big unknown. If the second-year QB shows promise he could be a viable option to start in 2023. But he’ll have to beat out Gabbert in the preseason.

If not, Tampa Bay might have to turn to the draft for a new QB in 2023, as the free agent market looks bleak. The 2022 offseason saw plenty of quarterback movement via trades, headlined by Russell Wilson to Denver and Matt Ryan to Indianapolis. But the Bucs can’t count on that happening again in 2023.