Bucs Could Make Attempt at Aaron Rodgers
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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in the market for a new starting quarterback come 2023 after Tom Brady announced his retirement on Wednesday.
The Buccaneers' options are pretty wide open when it comes to what they want to do for the future at the position. Currently, Kyle Trask, is the only active quarterback on the team's roster, but there has been no evidence to suggest that the Bucs are ready to roll with Trask as the team's starter moving forward.
With the notion that the Bucs aren't ready to move ahead with Trask as their starting QB, they can either choose to draft a player in this years draft or try and make a move in free agency or trade talks. It seems unlikely that the Bucs will try and make any moves to try and move up in the draft to grab the highly touted players in C.J. Stroud, Bryce Young, or Will Levis. That leaves them with trying to get their guy via free agency or trade.
Much of the talk surrounding who the Buccaneers would want to bring in has been around Derek Carr and Jimmy Garoppolo. However, there are other options out their including Baker Mayfield, Taylor Heinicke, and Gardner Minshew. None of these guys are at the level of Tom Brady, but would be able to do enough with the weapons Tampa Bay has on offense. One hot name, that could be comparable to Brady, would be Aaron Rodgers.
Nailing Aaron Rodgers would be huge for the Buccaneers, but the optics of it seems to be a long shot thanks to the Bucs' salary cap situation as well as the huge contract that Rodgers signed recently. Not only that, but would Rodgers be willing to come to Tampa Bay knowing that some of the pieces he would have around him may be on the outs due to shedding salary to fit him in. Yes, he would still have Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, but in all likelihood Leonard Fournette would be released along with some other pieces within the offense.
Rodgers is nearing the end of his career, but coming to Tampa Bay would provide him with the necessary tools to compete for a Super Bowl and launch him once again into the MVP conversation as long as the Bucs make the commitment to give him everything he needs like they did with Brady when he came in three years ago.
It remains a long shot, but if things all fall right, the Buccaneers could see themselves continue to get richer if they can somehow convince Rodgers to leave Green Bay for warmer weather.
Stick with BucsGameday for more coverage of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throughout the 2023 offseason.
