The Bucs are in as good of a spot as they have ever been when it comes to the quarterback position. Baker Mayfield has emerged as a franchise quarterback and truly has the chance to be different than any other signal-caller in franchise history. While Kyle Trask has not had an opportunity at extended snaps, the team was comfortable enough in his ability to re-sign him to a one-year deal this offseason.

While Trask has had a firm grip on the No. 2 job the past couple of seasons, Michael Pratt will be looking to make it a dilemma for the coaching staff. Speaking on the Pewter Report Podcast recently, Pratt detailed how his experience learning various offensive systems throughout his football career puts him in a unique position when it comes to taking his game to another level in 2025.

Michael Pratt Is Used To Having Different Offensive Coordinators

Michael Pratt has learned many offenses over the past decade.

Former Tulane QB Michael Pratt – Photo by: USA Today

Between high school, college, and now the NFL, Pratt has gone through plenty of flashcards to learn new systems on an annual basis. In the process, it has equipped him with the ability to adapt and thrive no matter what the play call is.

“I had four different offensive coordinators in high school, actually had five because there were some coaching changes,” Pratt said. “Five in four years of high school, and then in college I had four years, four different offensive coordinators. Last season, between Tulane, Green Bay, and Tampa in a full calendar year, I had three different offenses that I was running. This will be my tenth year of playing football and my thirteenth offense. I think that there’s a lot of pluses and minuses to that.”

With offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard keeping the offense intact next season save for a few changes, it will give Pratt a chance to truly finetune his game like never before. It has not stopped him from being productive, as he threw for 9,602 passing yards and 90 passing touchdowns across four seasons for the Green Wave. A stable environment could do him wonders as he keeps developing behind Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask.

“You get exposed to a lot of different things,” Pratt added. “Also, having to adapt, having to learn, and find the tools to be able to do that. I think the downside of it is that it’s hard to get into a rhythm and feel really, really comfortable. One of the big things was, throughout every offseason, I couldn’t really finetune the smaller details in my game because I was fixated on learning 70 new formations, 20 different motions, and all the different protection calls, and everything that comes with it. It has its ups and downs, but I just take it as it is and keep pushing.”

Michael Pratt Has “No Excuse Now”

Michael Pratt has had a circuitous football journey, one that left him as an odd man out of sorts in the Bucs’ quarterback room last season. Pratt was not a part of the roster throughout the offseason, instead spending it with the Packers. After Green Bay released him in late August, it was then that Tampa Bay scooped him up.

Bucs QB Michael Pratt – Photo by: USA Today

It worked against him in terms of truly grasping the offense, but it allowed him to sit and learn in the same quarterback room as Baker Mayfield. Mayfield knows what it is like going through offensive coordinators, having done the same throughout his time in the NFL. In what will be his eighth season, he will be on his ninth offensive coordinator.

“We’ve joked about it before,” Pratt said about having a similar background to Mayfield. “We haven’t gone into depth about it, but I just kind of asked him about his experience in it. He just said, ‘You got to take it on the chin and get back to working.’ You got to control the controllable. Something that my parents always told me that in everything [give] attitude and effort. Ultimately, you don’t have a choice because you don’t get to pick who the coaches [are].

“When a new one comes in, you’ve got to learn stuff. If you have a good attitude and have good effort, you can control all that you can control. That’s just kind of been my mindset through it. I got my flashcards trying to learn all these new formations that we got putting in. I’ve definitely fine-tuned all of the new ways to memorize things and all of that.”

More than just sharing that bond, Pratt has enjoyed watching how Mayfield leads the team. From the way he approaches the game to the respect he commands, it is something that truly galvanizes and brings the team together.

“He’s an awesome dude,” Pratt said. “When I think about my playstyle and his playstyle, he’s not a quarterback, he’s a football player. I just think that mindset and being an ultimate competitor is something that ignites a locker room, gets people fired up. Guys want to play for you and from that leadership standpoint, that’s who you have to be. His relationships with people is another huge part of leadership. You can be the most talented quarterback, and if you don’t got guys running the right routes and going 110% every rep, you’re going to look like crap.

Bucs QB Michael Pratt and QBs coach Thad Lewis – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“If you’re a mediocre quarterback or even a good quarterback and you got guys doing all of the right things around you, then you’re going to look pretty special. First, he is a great quarterback and also has the ability to get everybody else around him to play at their highest potential and that was showcased all year long. The way that he played, the way that everybody else around him played. That was really exciting just to see the way he goes about things, the way that he practices, his habits, definitely something that’s inspiring there.”

Pratt admitted that the process was the smoothest coming into town, as he did not want to overload the quarterback room with questions that would take time away from Mayfield and Kyle Trask’s ability to comprehend former offensive coordinator Liam Coen’s offense.

“Not having the offseason and getting here right at the start of the season, it’s not time for asking questions about — I didn’t want to be that guy in the quarterback room asking a million questions,” Pratt said. “I kind of had to learn everything from the top down rather than the bottom up which definitely made things a little bit stressful and a little bit difficult. Just take my dose of it and try to what I can outside of the building and extra meetings with the quarterback coach [Thad Lewis].”

Despite the ups and downs, Michael Pratt is focused on the season ahead. Few players should be as excited about offensive continuity as him.

“I am super excited for this offseason, being familiar with the system. We’re going to have a couple of different things that are changing up, but definitely have time to study it, so no excuse now.”

Watch Bucs QB Michael Pratt On The Pewter Report Podcast

Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds and Matt Matera spoke with quarterback Michael Pratt for about an hour earlier this month. To hear Pratt’s full comments, be sure to watch it by clicking HERE or watching below.