Kyle Trask is chasing what could be his last real chance to keep an NFL career alive, and the next stop is Carolina.
The former Florida quarterback worked out with the Panthers on Wednesday, giving him another shot to land with a team after spending part of last season on the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad and working out with the New Orleans Saints during their minicamp in May. Trask, a former second-round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has now been on the roster or tried out for every team in the NFC South.
This one makes some sense on paper. Panthers coach Dave Canales was Trask’s offensive coordinator in Tampa for a couple of years, so the quarterback should already know the system.
Carolina also may need another arm soon, with the Panthers set to face the Arizona Cardinals in the Hall of Fame game next Thursday. Bryce Young is unlikely to play, and behind him are rookie Haynes King and former first-round pick Kenny Pickett.
That leaves the door open for a third quarterback to be in the mix.
For Carolina, it’s a low-risk look. For Trask, it feels a lot bigger than that.
He never really got traction with the Buccaneers, and he didn’t do enough in camp to win over Todd Bowles and his staff. Tampa Bay did bring him back on a one-year contract in March 2025 to keep serving as Baker Mayfield’s backup, but when Mayfield went down with a minor injury during training camp last year, Trask got his chance with the first team and didn’t make the most of it. The Bucs eventually signed veteran Teddy Bridgewater and released Trask before the season began.
If he can get through this workout and earn a camp invite, there’s a path to a few snaps next Thursday. That’s not exactly a glamorous opportunity for a player who was drafted so high, but it may be the one in front of him now.
And if anyone still needed a reminder of how far Trask has come, Florida fans already know the story. He arrived from Manvel, Texas, as a lightly regarded recruit with no other FBS offers, then got his chance under Dan Mullen in 2019. Over 22 starts in 2019 and 2020, he threw for 7,224 yards and 68 touchdowns, led the Gators to the 2020 SEC Championship Game, and finished that night with more than 400 passing yards and three touchdowns in a 52-46 loss.
That’s the version of Kyle Trask Gator fans have carried with them ever since. Now he’s trying to write a new chapter in Carolina.
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