The most telling story from the Bucs’ preseason game against the Jets didn’t have anything to do with what happened in the game during Tampa Bay’s 13-6 road win. What everyone wanted to know is whether Todd Bowles and the Bucs’ staff have already decided on choosing Baker Mayfield as the team’s starting quarterback.

Kyle Trask got the start for the Bucs in the second preseason game, and while Mayfield dressed for the game, he didn’t play at all. Instead of inserting Mayfield as Trask’s replacement in the second half, Bowles played third-stringer John Wolford. Unfortunately, Wolford sustained a neck injury and was taken to a local hospital after leaving the game on a stretcher. Back in came Trask rather than Mayfield to finish the game. He completed 20-of-28 passes for 218 yards with a 33-yard touchdown to rookie Trey Palmer.

Considering this, it would be fair to hypothesize that Mayfield is the starter and Tampa Bay wanted to sit him against the Jets in order to avoid injury.

That would make sense, right?

Nope. Not according to Todd Bowles.

For Some Reason, Todd Bowles Won’t Commit To Baker Mayfield Starting

The Bucs head coach was asked directly if Baker Mayfield was the starter following the game. But Bowles would not commit to Mayfield being QB1 just yet.

Bucs QBs Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask and RT Luke Goedeke – Photo by: USA Today

“No, Trask was warmer at the time and we took out the (offensive) line and he was ready to go,” Todd Bowles said. “We we’re going to play Baker at the end of the half, but we wanted to see Kyle in the two-minute period, so we kind of left him at the time it went down. We wanted to play John [Wolford] in the second half. It wasn’t fair to put Baker in there without the line he had. Trask was already warmed up so when John got hurt we just put him back in to finish up.”

Following up, Bowles confirmed that Baker was in fact going to play, but the decision to pull him didn’t come until the game was already going.

“Yeah, he was up to play,” Bowles said. “I made the decision at the last minute.”

Bowles isn’t fooling anyone by not committing to Mayfield as the starter. He may say he hasn’t named one yet, but all the signs from tonight’s game point to the Bucs giving Mayfield the job.

Can Both QBs Be Evaluated Properly?

How could anyone say it’s a quarterback competition between two players, yet one of them flat out doesn’t play by coach’s choice? In what scenario can one truthfully evaluate who is going to be a starter at quarterback, which is the toughest and most important position in football, without getting to look at both players in a live game?

“It’s not a different kind of playing field,” Todd Bowles said when asked about determining a starter despite one candidate playing and the other sitting. “We monitor everything. It’s not just preseason games, it’s everything that goes through it. They’ve both been competing hard. We like what both of them do and we’ll go from there.”

Bucs QB Kyle Trask – Photo by: USA Today

It was rather odd in the way that Todd Bowles is attempting to say publicly that there isn’t a starter yet. There are 31 other teams that know who is lining up under center for their organization come Week 1 of the regular season. Why is Tampa Bay hiding behind this pseudo QB battle? What are the Bucs truly gaining from this?

If the Bucs already named Mayfield the starter publicly and sat him out because of it, then fine. If the team legitimately believes it needs another week with one more game to decide the winner, that’s fine too, just play both quarterbacks. To not play Mayfield and then not anoint him as the starter after the game seems like a disingenuous move.

Until it’s official, there is still a quarterback competition in Tampa Bay … allegedly. (There’s not)