TAMPA, Fla. -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said one day after cutting backup quarterback Kyle Trask in advance of Tuesday's roster cuts is that they feel they have a "better chance" with veteran Teddy Bridgewater.
Trask, a second-round draft pick out of the University of Florida in 2021, had served as a third-string quarterback under Tom Brady for two seasons but always maintained a spot on the 53-man roster.
Then in 2023, Trask competed with Baker Mayfield throughout the training camp and in the preseason for the starting quarterback role that ultimately went to Mayfield, with Trask serving as the backup the past two seasons.
"Obviously [Bridgewater] brings experience, but he brings a wealth of knowledge," Bowles said Tuesday. "He can command the offense right now. Him being older has a lot to do with it, but him being accurate and understanding what we're trying to do has a lot to do with it as well. We had Kyle [Trask] for four years and it was a good four-year run. We just feel like we got a better chance with Teddy."
When Mayfield suffered an injury to his throwing hand and was held out for two practices this summer -- on Aug. 1 and 2 -- Trask took the majority of first-team reps and struggled. After two off days Aug. 3-4, the Bucs had Bridgewater in for a visit on Aug. 5 and signed him that day. Bridgewater got the start in the Bucs' second preseason game at the Pittsburgh Steelers on Aug. 16 and threw two touchdown passes.
Trask started the first and third preseason games this year and got significant playing time, completing 28 of 43 passes for 241 yards with a touchdown pass. There was hope that Trask would be able to do more though and the team opted to keep two quarterbacks on its 53-man roster.
Bowles also addressed the decision to part ways with former Gators defensive tackle Desmond Watson, an undrafted free agent who spent all of camp on the active/non-football injury list as the team wanted him to get his weight down.
"The door is not closed on him but if you don't practice you're probably not going to make this team and then we'll see where we are in a couple of weeks and we'll circle back and then we'll go from there," Bowles said.
Watson had spent all of training camp working with a nutritionist and conditioning in an effort to drop some weight from his 449-pound frame.
"He has been working hard," Bowles said of Watson. "I think he's going to continue to work hard, and we had a long talk and we had good communication and we'll circle back and see where he is at."