Mayfield, Trask compete for starter, hoping to make the other better

TAMPA — Baker Mayfield entered the interview tent at Tampa Bay Buccaneers training camp just as coach Todd Bowles exited and playfully lobbed the first question of the quarterback’s news conference.

“Are you the starter, Baker?” Bowles asked, smiling as he continued walking away.

Mayfield grinned, too, though he didn’t provide much insight Thursday into where the competition for Tom Brady’s old job stands.

Instead, the No. 1 overall pick from the 2018 NFL draft who’s battling third-year pro Kyle Trask to become Brady’s successor reiterated he’s simply focused on learning the offense and making the most of an opportunity to jumpstart his career.

“We just work each day. One day at a time, right now,” Mayfield began. “We are just getting into the swing of things offensively with the recall of what we worked on in the spring.”

Trask is a 2021 second-round draft pick who spent the past two seasons a third-stringer learning from Brady, who retired last winter after a historic 23-year run that included six Super Bowl titles with the New England Patriots and one with the Bucs.

Mayfield, 28, is with his fourth team in two years. He’s 31-38 in 69 starts, including 29-30 over four seasons with the Cleveland Browns.

“We’re trying to make the quarterback room as good as possible. … No matter what position I am in, I’m going to try and get everybody better,” Mayfield said of the competition, which began during offseason workouts.

“I’m still going to be me. I’ll work my tail off, obviously, to start. That’s the goal,” he added. “But so is to get everybody else better around me, to raise that competition level and that standard as well.”