TAMPA, Fla. — Kyle Trask’s two preseason performances have generated mixed results, but the second-year quarterback received an endorsement Wednesday from Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich.
Leftwich said he thinks Trask has been “improving drastically” day-to-day, especially with positional nuances that aren’t graded by reporters or other observers. Protecting the football — Trask has fumbled three times, losing one, and thrown two interceptions this preseason — remains an obvious area for growth.
But Leftwich said Trask is “improving on things that you guys can’t notice.” Plus, Leftwich added, everything looks different when analyzed alongside the quarterback atop the Bucs’ depth chart.
“You compare everything to (Tom) Brady, everything looks bad, right?” Leftwich said Wednesday. “And that’s what he’s facing right now.”
With Brady absent for 11 days for “personal reasons,” the first two preseason games became windows for the Bucs to get Trask — a second-round pick from Florida in 2021 — extended reps.
Trask completed 25 of 33 passes for 258 yards in the preseason opener against Miami but followed with an 11-of-24 outing Saturday in Tennessee. The second game featured just 105 passing yards.
Leftwich is glad that Trask shares a quarterback room with Brady, because Trask can listen to insights from the 23rd-year veteran. But Leftwich said a quarterback’s strides can’t be measured by one impressive play, because “if you screw the other 50 plays up, you’re probably not getting better.” It’s more of a gradual process.
Still, Trask has improved “as much as you can improve with the reps he’s been getting,” Leftwich said.
Bucs add another outside linebacker
The Bucs are signing 27-year-old outside linebacker Genard Avery to strengthen a position that recently lost Cam Gill to injured reserve. Across four seasons, Avery has accumulated 7-1/2 sacks. He started 12 games for the Eagles last year and made 43 tackles.
Avery, a fifth-round pick of the Browns out of Memphis in 2018, was cut by the Steelers on Tuesday. He joins Carl Nassib as outside linebackers who have signed with the Bucs since Gill suffered a Lisfranc injury in the preseason opener.
Looming cut-down day ‘worst’ of the job for Spytek
John Spytek remembers the day his playing career ended. It wasn’t at the NFL level, but the Bucs’ vice president of player personnel said it was still a “hard day, and you have to come to grips with that.”
That makes Aug. 30 — when NFL teams trim their rosters from 80 to 53 players — “the worst day of the job.” The only other thing that’d compare would be watching someone get hurt and lose an opportunity because of the injury. For some, Spytek said, the decision will create a chance to latch on with another team. But for others, it’ll mark the end of their career.
“It’s a really hard game,” Spytek said Wednesday. “It’s gonna test you in a lot of ways, and the reality is we just can’t keep everybody.”
Odds and ends
When asked what would help put his mind at ease about the offensive line — given injuries to Ryan Jensen, Tristan Wirfs and Aaron Stinnie during the preseason — Leftwich cracked a smile. “To put my mind at ease or to put your guys’ mind at ease? How do you know I’m not at ease? You’re assuming that I’m not.” … Brady, who had a veteran maintenance day Wednesday, has looked “excellent” since returning from his extended absence, Leftwich said. … Linebacker Grant Stuard practiced Wednesday, while wideouts Cyril Grayson and Russell Gage, running back Giovani Bernard and cornerback Zyon McCollum didn’t participate.
Times staff writer Rick Stroud contributed to this report.
