Report: Baker Mayfield will start for Buccaneers in Week 1

The competition continues. But the outcome reportedly has essentially been determined.

Ira Kaufman of JoeBucsFan.com reports that the Buccaneers intend to entrust the offense to quarterback Baker Mayfield one month from today, when Tampa Bay visits Minnesota.

“About this [Kyle] Trask and Mayfield competition, I was told pointedly and without much doubt, Mayfield’s going to be the starter in Minneapolis,” Kaufman said on his podcast. “That’s what I was told. With all due respect to Trask, who has had a good training camp and Mayfield’s struggled a bit, Mayfield’s getting the ball in Minneapolis.”

Although it’s not over, Kaufman said “it’s probably a lost cause for Kyle Trask.”

“When it was told to me [that Mayfield would start Week 1] it was said in a definitive manner,” Kaufman said. “There was no equivocation. It wasn’t even said, ‘Well, depending on it could change in the preseason games; let’s see what happens.’ No, none of that. It was basically, ‘It’s Mayfield’s job. He’s got it. He’s going to be the starter against Kirk Cousins and those Vikings.’”

Against those Vikings, it’s not quite clear what the defense will be doing under new coordinator Brian Flores. Later tonight, the Bucs and the rest of the league will begin to get some clues, as Minnesota opens the preseason in Seattle.