Replacing Tom Brady Is Hard, But The Buccaneers Trying To Do It With Baker Mayfield & Kyle Trask Is Even Harder

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The New England Patriots discovered how hard it is to replace Tom Brady. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are already coming to that reality and the season hasn't started. Perhaps attempting to replace him with Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask wasn't ideal.

Following an incredible run with the Patriots in which the team won the AFC East 16 times in 17 seasons -- and the only season they failed to win the division was when Brady missed essentially the entire year due to injury -- Tom Brady left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost Tom Brady to retirement and now turn to Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask … it's not going well.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost Tom Brady to retirement and now turn to Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask … it's not going well. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Since then, the Patriots have not won the division in three seasons. They made the playoffs once, but lost in the Wild Card round.

It's hard to replace a legend, obviously.

But the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are making it even harder. They're trying to do it with Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask. And the early returns are not good.

Last week, awful throws by both Mayfield and Trask made during OTAs started making their way around social media.

Not great. I considered writing about it, but I thought "It's the first day of OTAs. You can't draw too many conclusions based on that. Even if it's funny."

So, I let it go.

Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask continue to struggle during Tampa Bay Buccaneers OTAs, team badly misses Tom Brady

On Tuesday, an editor sent me a message saying "did you see the terrible throws from Mayfield and Trask at Bucs' practice?"

I said, "From last week? Yeah, I saw that."

He responded, "Oh, no. From today."

Wait, what.

OK, there can't possibly be more lowlights from the pair of passers, right? They're throwing passes against no defense while not wearing pads. How bad could it be?

Oh, I assure you, it can be REALLY bad.

YIKES.

I understand it's May. Perhaps either one of them can turn the ship right round. But I wouldn't bet on it.

Tom Brady brought the Bucs a Super Bowl trophy in 2021. He helped them win the AFC South in each of the past two seasons.

Then, he retired again.

Now, they turn the reins over to Mayfield and Trask.

In their first season sans Brady, the Patriots won seven games.

Quite honestly, if the Buccaneers won seven games, it'd be a minor miracle.