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Getty Todd Bowles takes over as the new Buccaneers head coach.
Bruce Arians’ retirement was not the only recent news for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as the team announced quarterback Ryan Griffin has been re-signed. Griffin is now the third quarterback on the Bucs’ roster, joining Tom Brady and Kyle Trask.
Griffin, 32, has been with the Buccaneers, off and on, since the team claimed him on September 6, 2015, after his release by the Saints. The 2022 season will mark Griffin’s seventh year in Tampa Bay.
Griffin has not taken a snap in a regular-season game since 2019, when he completed two-of-four passes for 18 yards. He became a viral phenomenon during the team’s championship boat parade in 2021 when he helped Brady find dry land after he’d had a few “avocado tequilas” during the celebration.
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Gabbert Remains an Unsigned Free Agent
This NFL offseason has seemed like three years wrapped into one. At the beginning of March, Brady was retired and Bruce Arians seemed entrenched as head coach. A month later, Brady has returned and Arians has retired.
After Brady retired, Arians talked up Blaine Gabbert as a potential candidate to be the next Bucs QB1. However, Gabbert, 32, remains an unsigned free agent.
“People may not like the overall record, but Blaine had eight head coaches and eight coordinators his first eight years,” Arians told Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Stroud for a February 23 feature. “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.”
The Bucs Have Been Linked to Browns QB Baker Mayfield
It remains to be seen whether the Buccaneers will add Gabbert or another veteran quarterback to the 2022 roster. Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson mentioned the Buccaneers as a potential landing spot for disgruntled Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Robinson suggested that Mayfield could serve as a quarterback in waiting for when Brady moves on in 2023 or beyond. Cleveland would have to be willing to eat some of Mayfield’s $18.8 million salary for this to even be remotely possible. When asked about the potential of adding Mayfield, Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht stopped short of ruling out the possible move.
“We might still add someone,” Licht told Mad Dog Radio’s Adam Schein during a March 23 interview. “I don’t want to talk about a player that’s on another team’s roster right now, but we still may add a veteran quarterback. We’re just going to have to see how it goes here.”
Bowles: ‘I Am the Head Coach of the Entire Team’
New Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles shared his first thoughts on Arians’ surprising retirement and his taking over the team. Bowles shot down the notion that he is defensive-minded, preferring to be known as a well-rounded head coach now that he relinquishes the coordinator title.
“I don’t consider myself a defensive-minded coach when I become a head coach” Bowles said during a March 31 press conference. “I am a head coach of the entire team. There will be situational football that me and Byron [Leftwich] will talk about: third-and-ones, two minute and the ballgame.
“You become a head coach, I think there’s this thing going around that defensive coaches can’t be head coaches because you don’t see them, and I think it’s quite the contrary. Obviously, [Bill] Belichick is an outstanding head coach, and we have a few in this league that are very good head coaches.”
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Buccaneers Reveal Quarterback Move