The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are finding out just how hard life is post-Tom Brady. It is something that the New England Patriots suffered through as well, as replacing the greatest of all time and future Hall of Famer is no small task.
A quarterback competition is set to occur in Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers have Kyle Trask, a second-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, set to battle it out with free agent signing Baker Mayfield. Neither player instills much confidence long-term, let alone for the 2023 campaign.
That is why the Buccaneers should be keeping their options open when it comes to the quarterback situation. If the opportunity presents itself to land one of the highly-ranked quarterbacks in this year’s draft class, the Buccaneers should think long and hard about taking advantage.
That is exactly what ESPN’s Todd McShay has them doing in his recent mock draft. McShay believes that the Buccaneers will make a trade-up in the 2023 NFL Draft with the New England Patriots. They will jump up to No. 14 and end the slide of Kentucky quarterback Will Levis.
Moving up from No. 19 to 14 would certainly be a feasible jump for Tampa Bay to make. Given the state of the roster, they shouldn’t be sacrificing many future draft assets, which would be required to jump into the top 10.
Just like any prospect, there are some concerns when it comes to Levis. There have been some scathing reports about Levis recently. He is reportedly struggling in interviews with teams, which has caused him to drop down the board.
At this point in the year, everything being reported about prospects should be taken with a grain of salt. Organizations are looking to gain the upper hand wherever possible and could leak information that isn’t 100 percent accurate.
The Buccaneers would love to take advantage of a potential Levis slide down the board. He certainly needs some development time before stepping into the lineup, but he has experience playing in a pro-style offense and the tools are there for him to become a very good player at the next level.
The best thing about landing in Tampa Bay would be that Levis would have zero pressure to play right away. Trask and Mayfield can handle things throughout 2023 before turning the offense over to Levis to hopefully take over near the end of the season or in 2024.
