22-year old Josh Freeman was thrown to the wolves last season for the last nine weeks of the year and he was up and down as expected.  Freeman has one of the strongest throwing arms in the NFL and he’s a good runner who can easily buy time in the pocket to throw downfield.  Freeman played in 10 games for the Bucs last season and he completed 158 of 290 passes (54.5%) for 1,855 yards with 10 TD passes and 18 INTs (59.8 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 30 times for 161 yards (5.4 ypc) last season for the Bucs.  The Bucs were 3-6 (33.3%) under Freeman when he started last season and he could have a similar record unless the rookie WRs of the Bucs are the real deal.

24-year old Josh Johnson will be Freeman’s backup.  He has a lot of the same skills minus the elite throwing arm.  Johnson played in 6 games for the Buccaneers last season and he completed 63 of 125 passes (50.4%) for 685 yards with 4 TD passes and 8 INTs (50.9 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 22 times for 148 yards (6.7 ypc) last season for the Bucs.  The Bucs have been talking about using Johnson in the Wildcat Formation and he’s probably a good fit for it.  The Bucs were 0-4 (0%) under Johnson as a starting QB last season.

24-year old Rudy Carpenter will battle undrafted rookie Jevan Snead for the #3 QB job in 2010.  Based on evidence from last year when the Bucs ditched Luke McCown I have to believe that Snead has the edge here.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE BUCCANEERS QBs in 2010:  D+