This offseason was always going to be a tiring one for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their fanbase. 

The loss of Tom Brady paired with a disappointing season and limited prospects on the horizon was always going to have that impact. There was going to be some negative opinions about the franchise.

However, the recent fascination with interceptions by Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask at practices has been downright silly.

It didn't take long to start seeing the reports. The Tweets and articles seem to come out at a daily rate with updates on how many interceptions Mayfield or Trask throw. 

Another pick today for Baker Mayfield, as corner Jamel Dean gets an interception on low throw in 7-on-7. That’s seven INTs in nine practices for Mayfield.

— Greg Auman (@gregauman) August 5, 2023

We've tweeted about them individually, but after five Bucs practices, Baker Mayfield has thrown four interceptions (two today, one deflected) and Kyle Trask has only one. Turnovers were arguably the biggest concern about Mayfield going into the competition.

— Greg Auman (@gregauman) July 31, 2023

There shouldn't be any shade towards Greg Auman. He is merely reporting facts that come out of camp. The people that are wrong in this situation are those that use this single stat as some short of measuring stick of where the quarterback competition is at.

While most of the NFL world seems to be losing its mind that the Bucs quarterbacks are throwing picks at practice, other quarterbacks are throwing picks at their practices too.

It happens. That's why it is called practice.

Without film or context, no one can make any judgements on Mayfield or Kyle Trask with simple interception numbers. Is the ball bouncing off the receiver's hands? Was the route messed up? Was the QB immediately under pressure?

Without the answers to these questions, trying to assess whether a quarterback is doing well in the turnover department during practice is an impossible task. When you add to that the fact that quarterbacks are throwing passes at a higher rate to players that probably won't make the roster in the end, it starts to show that interceptions are just going to be a part of the game for some weeks during camp.

Practice is the time to take chances. 50/50 balls are a great way to determine whether or not a DB/WR has the juice to make a play. Taking that chance usually comes down to a call by the coaching staff, so using the fallout of that play as some short of measuring stick for the quarterback again looks silly.

There should be a lot of takeaways from what we have seen from the Buccaneers on offense so far during training camp. The biggest of these should not be anything to do with interceptions.

Former NFL QB sees big issue with Bucs’ Baker Mayfield-Kyle Trask battle

He has a point, but there’s also logic behind what the Bucs are doing with Mayfield and Trask.

Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports