![\"Luke](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2254095178-e1774971128583.jpg\")
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Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer. <\/p>\n
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> have had a miserable situation at backup quarterback for what seems like time immemorial \u2014 a succession of \u201cWe Will Certainly Lose If This Dude Goes In\u201d backups who inspire zero faith.<\/p>\n If the Buccaneers go with a prediction from ESPN\u2019s Matt Miller, it will certainly only continue down that road.<\/p>\n In Miller\u2019s latest 7-round mock draft<\/a>, he has the Buccaneers taking Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer in the 7th round (No. 229 overall) \u2014 a player who should almost certainly not be taken in any draft in any year, ever, at any time in human history.<\/p>\n \u201cAltmyer has experience in pro passing concepts and shows decent eye discipline\/patience to give the play a chance,\u201d NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein wrote<\/a>. \u201cHe throws with adequate anticipation into zone windows but a slower operation time and lack of arm talent hurt his chances of beating tight man coverage. Edge pressure sneaks up on him and he hasn\u2019t learned to avoid sacks often enough. Altmyer could have a tough time beating out pro backups for a roster spot \u2026 below-average size, arm talent and drive velocity.\u201d<\/p>\n Sounds like the kind of player the Buccaneers would probably bring in, unfortunately.<\/p>\n Transfer From SEC to Middling Big Ten Program<\/p>\n Altmyer, 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, was a backup to Matt Corral<\/a> and Jaxson Dart<\/a> in 2 seasons at Ole Miss before transferring to Illinois, where he became a 3-year starter.<\/p>\n In 35 games over 3 seasons at Illinois, Altmyer went 19-7 over his final 2 seasons and even got the Fighting Illini into the Top 10 in his final season as he posted career highs in passing yards (3,007), touchdowns (22), rushing touchdowns (5) and completion percentage (67.4).<\/p>\n Bucs Sign Miserable Option at Backup QB<\/p>\n The Buccaneers signed longtime Cincinnati Bengals backup quarterback Jake Browning<\/a> in free agency \u2014 a miserable option to back up Baker Mayfield in 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cFree agent QB\u00a0Jake Browning<\/a>\u00a0plans to sign with the Tampa Bay Bucs on a one-year deal, per source,\u201d\u00a0ESPN\u2019s Jeremy Fowler wrote<\/a>\u00a0on Wednesday. \u201cFrom backing up Joe Burrow<\/a> to\u00a0Baker Mayfield<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Browning backed up\u00a0Joe Burrow<\/a>\u00a0on the\u00a0Cincinnati Bengals<\/a>\u00a0the last 3 seasons, including going 4-3 as a starter and leading the\u00a0NFL<\/a>\u00a0in completion percentage (70.4) in 2023.<\/p>\n From\u00a0NFL Researcher\u2019s official X account<\/a>: \u201cJake Browning went 4-3 in 7 starts for the Bengals in 2023 (as starter): 71.5 comp pct (led NFL<\/a>), 266.9 pass YPG (6th in NFL), 8.2 pass yds\/att (4th in NFL), 99.1 passer rating (7th in NFL).\u201d<\/p>\n In 3 seasons, Browning is 4-6 starting in place of Burrow.<\/p>\n \u201cBucs plan to sign QB Jake Browning to a one year deal,\u201d\u00a0Tampa Bay Times NFL reporter Rick Stroud<\/a>\u00a0wrote on his official X account. \u201cBaker Mayfield has his backup.\u201d<\/p>\n Browning Played Out 2-Year Contract With Bengals<\/p>\n Browning, 28, was an exclusive rights free agent who went 4-3 in 7 starts in 2023, throwing for 1,936 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions as he won 3 of his first 4 starts \u2014 the first Bengals quarterback to do so since Boomer Esiason in 1984.<\/p>\n That landed him a 2-year, $1.975 million contract with the Bengals before the 2024 season. He struggled enough in 2025 with an injury to starter Joe Burrow that the Bengals brought in veteran Joe Flacco<\/a> to try and save the season.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tTony Adame<\/a> covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Buccaneers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had a miserable situation at backup quarterback for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":846689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2077],"tags":[211,7,6,704,250,2597,2596],"class_list":{"0":"post-846688","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-buccaneers","8":"tag-buccaneers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-tampa-bay","12":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","13":"tag-tampabay","14":"tag-tampabaybuccaneers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116328547715428713","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/846689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}