When Did Dave Canales Know Baker Mayfield Was Bucs’ QB1? 

The Bucs’ offense has seen quite a few changes this offseason, but the biggest have come in two very important roles. The first was the change in offensive coordinator, with Tampa Bay going from Byron Leftwich to Dave Canales. The other? Moving on from the retired Tom Brady and going with either Baker Mayfield or Kyle Trask as his replacement.

Canales and the Bucs coaches said from the start that the quarterback competition between Mayfield and Trask would be a true competition. The reasons for that were evident.

Bucs OC Dave Canales and QBs Kyle Trask and Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Mayfield, despite having 69 career starts under his belt, had to prove that he’s more of the guy who was the 2018 No. 1 overall pick and the starter of a playoff team in 2020 and less of the guy who is on his fourth team in two years.

Trask, a 2021 second-round pick by the Bucs, had just nine career pass attempts in regular season play through his first two seasons in the NFL. So, for him, it was about proving that he could lead the Tampa Bay offense and shoulder the weight of being a starting quarterback in this league.

The competition ultimately was much closer than originally anticipated, with Trask closing the gap on Mayfield early in training camp.

“Really leading up to that first preseason game, that’s where it was kind of neck and neck,” Canales said Monday. “Baker had a couple of days that were not great and those days Kyle [Trask] really excelled, so then the disparity was a little bigger like, ‘Oh shoot, Kyle clearly won these two or three days here.’”

But the end result was the expected one, with Mayfield being named the Bucs’ starting quarterback ahead of the preseason finale. But the coaching staff was extremely pleased with what Trask did throughout the summer, into camp and into the preseason.

What Moment Told Dave Canales That Baker Mayfield Would Be QB1?

Bucs OC Dave Canales and QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

So, at what moment did Dave Canales know that Baker Mayfield had separated himself as the Bucs’ starting quarterback? It was actually a stretch of moments, starting with the preseason opener against Pittsburgh and continuing into the following week’s practices. The young offensive coordinator explained Monday how he saw that stretch unfold.

“Coming out of the first preseason game – and obviously not playing the starters – [with] Baker being able to get out there, command the offense, talk to the group, be in the huddle and all of that,” Canales said. “Then we had an indoor practice one of the days after that and he launched a 67-yard post route on the money to Mike [Evans] and it was like… Here is the coverage. I could see his wheels turning, he looked, he saw Mike, everything was perfect. He threw the ball way down the field on the money and Mike walked in. It was just like goosebumps. ‘Woah, that was cool.’”

From that point on, Canales said, Mayfield continued to do all the right things. The 28-year-old quarterback is even approaching the small moments the right way, just like his offensive coordinator has been preaching.

“Then he kind of built and fed off of that, like, ‘OK, I’ll hit in when it’s there, but now I’ll just do the little things and then when the next big one is there, I’ll try to hit it,’” Canales said. “That’s what I’ve been trying to sell to him — just be special that many times. Be special in those small moments. Otherwise, just throw it to the open guy. Just check it down to the [running] back, make those decisions, play good football, and then when they put their gloves down, knock them out.”