Tom Brady's retirement leaves a G.O.A.T.-sized hole in Tampa Bay, where the quarterback position is the biggest question mark entering the 2022 season.
With Kyle Trask the only QB under contract for 2022, the Buccaneers have been mentioned as players in a potential trade for a veteran. Tampa could also look to the free-agent market, where former Bucs QB Jameis Winston and Teddy Bridgewater are the top names. There is also another option: Bring back Blaine Gabbert as a stop-gap.
Coach Bruce Arians, who brought Gabbert to Tampa in 2019 after working with the QB in 2017 in Arizona, talked up that option.
"People may not like the overall record, but Blaine had eight head coaches and eight coordinators his first eight years," Arians said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. "He beat Jacksonville their best year and beat Tennessee their big year for us in Arizona. And he's been in the system now. I don't have a problem there and let Kyle continue to grow. Either one. (Gabbert) has never played with a team this good. He's got all the respect in the locker room that he can have."
Gabbert, who is set to be a free agent, hasn't started a game since 2018 with the Tennessee Titans, being relegated to relief duty of Brady the past two seasons. The 6-foot-5 former first-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars has the physical traits to run Arians' system and the knowledge of the offense to hold down the fort. But he's just 13-35 as a starter and struggled in a full-time role.
It's easy for Arians to pontificate about the possibility of riding Gabbert and/or Trask in February. Still, it will be no surprise if general manager Jason Licht opts for a splash play once the QB dominoes begin to fall in the coming weeks and months.
