The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have decided that Jalon Daniels, an undrafted rookie free agent, will be their backup quarterback to start the season, a source told NFL Network‘s Ian Rapoport.
Daniels started training camp as a long shot to make Tampa Bay’s roster behind starting quarterback Baker Mayfield and veteran Jake Browning, who signed a one-year deal with the Bucs earlier this year.
But after impressing throughout training camp and the Bucs’ preseason games, Daniels beat out Browning to secure the backup role.
The Bucs will release Browning on Sunday as they cut down their roster to 53 players, a source told Rapoport.
“[Daniels] has shown a lot. He’s shown a lot,” Bucs coach Todd Bowles said after Friday’s preseason finale against the Jacksonville Jaguars. “We’re going to go back and evaluate the film.”
Daniels joined the Bucs earlier this year on a deal that included a signing bonus of just $25,000. The former Kansas star appeared in all three of Tampa Bay’s preseason games, completing 61.4% of his passes for 239 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for 37 yards and a touchdown.
Daniels started Friday’s 19-0 loss to the Jaguars and struggled, completing 8 of 15 attempts for 57 yards while losing a fumble.
“It’s not really the completions,” Bowles said. “It’s the overall operation to make sure he’s fine with that, and then we’ll come back and look at the film because it wasn’t very good offensively tonight.”
