Although he stopped short of declaring the competition decided, and allowed that the battle will continue into training camp, Tampa Bay Bucs coach Jon Gruden acknowledged Friday that veteran Jeff Garcia will go into the summer with a "big lead" over Chris Simms in the race for the team's starting job at quarterback.
"There's not a lot of controversy in my eyes right now," Gruden said. "If you want to catch up to Jeff Garcia, our young quarterbacks have a lot of work to do."
One advantage Garcia has over the five other quarterbacks on the roster is a familiarity with the shotgun offense, which Gruden has never used before, but is installing this spring. But it is his overall performance this spring in general, Gruden said, that has been impressive and put him in the strongest position heading into camp.
"He understands the position," Gruden said of Garcia. "He's moved offenses wherever he has been. And right now, Jeff Garcia has a big lead, to me, on the quarterback position. He brings a lot of juice and enthusiasm to our offensive team."
"I'm not discounting that it will be competitive in camp. . . . But Garcia is clearly the leader in the clubhouse right now, and we are excited about that." Gruden said of the quarterback battle.
Not really a huge surprise as Garcia fits more with the type of QB that Gruden prefers. Good to see that he has come and immediately fit in with this team and become a leader.