OldTimer1960

True, but as the original poster points out, Smith will be there because other team's desperate for a QB have filled their need temporarily with journeymen (Alex Smith, if the trade goes through: Oakland with Flynn and Arizona with Drew Stafford and possibly Carson Palmer.) I would be very leery of taking any of these QBs as the teams ahead of the Bills are looking like they are running from them. Now, maybe they can get lucky and hit on one of the QBs in the draft, but I think there is a very high bust-potential if they draft a QB in round 1 this year. All of the signs are pointing to other teams not wanting these guys.

Thank you. Many here don't understand this point and figure it is all because the team has incompetent front office personnel and is cheap. I think the lack of activity in big $ signings shows that they are actually paying very close attention to the long-term and know where their priorities are.

With his back problems, it is hard to count on Torrell Troup, but you can tell the guy is working very hard to try to make it back to the NFL. Once in a while I check him on twitter and it sounds like the guy lives to work out. I am rooting for this guy because he is working hard and because he could help the defense if he is healthy. Here is a recent photo that he posted: https://twitter.com/TorellTroup/status/316618655100174336/photo/1

I am with you. Reaching for QBs because of need is a misery-inducing exercise: Rick Mirer, Heath Shuler, Kerry Collins, Jim Druckenmiller, Ryan Leaf, Tim Couch, Akili Smith, Duante Culpepper, Cade McKnown, David Carr, Joey Harrington, Patrick Ramsey, Byron Leftwich, Kyle Boller, Rex Grossman, JP Losman, Alex Smith, Jason Campbell, Vince Young, Matt Leinart, Jamarcus Russell, Brady Quinn, Tim Tebow and others have been #1 draft picks because of teams' desperate need for QBs. One side of the coin says it is worth gambling the high pick because, if you hit, you are set for a long time to be competitive. The flip side is that, even without the financial pain of paying insane money to a highly drafted QB (recently changed), the loss of an otherwise likely very good player is still very high. Further, a team tends to "stick with" their highly drafted QB for 2-3 years before starting their search for another one. Unfortunately, I don't think that there is a common denominator for why the list above failed. You could argue that most failed because they couldn't make the quick, smart decisions required of an NFL QB. Unfortunately, that is VERY hard to evaluate in college QBs.

Hey man, what is the avatar picture you have?

In my opinion, there is a BIG difference between DL, WRs and QBs. I don't even remotely see the comparison to Jim Kelly. I am not objecting to Bray being a jerk to people (so much), but more to his preparation and dedication to being his best - AND to the fact that with 2 (and sometimes 3) NFL worthy WRs, he couldn't complete 60% of his passes and lead his team to more victories. Heck, is WRs at Tenn were FAR better than the Bills' current and recent group at the position.

Why do you think this? He is undersized and a one-year starter who didn't put up outstanding stats. Now, I know that there is more to scouting than college statistics, but I do think it is a red-flag that he is a one-year starter. I know that some like Nick Foles, whom Scott sat behind, but Foles (until proven otherwise) is a marginal NFL prospect - perhaps can carve out a nice career backup role. It isn't like he was sitting behind Andrew Luck. Please understand that I am not challenging your opinion - after all, your opinion is as valid as mine, I just want to understand why you think so highly of Matt Scott.

I think Hairston is going to be taking Levitre's place - or at least be given the chance to do so.

I agree. My post was meant to suggest that there more to evaluating players than looking at their college stats. I have seen many posts specifically pointing to Geno Smith's 71% completion rate as proof that he is clearly the best QB available in this draft. I was just giving an example of a player with similar college stats who hasn't set the NFL on fire.

I'd rather have the QB who put up these great stats in a 4 year college career: 1157 completions, 1645 attempts, 70.3% CAREER completion rate, 112 TDs, 45 s That was Colt McCoy's college career stat line. Now, I am not advocating picking him up, but I wouldn't be opposed. My point is, you don't find much better career stats than that, but yet he isn't a top flight NFL QB. Statistics can be deceiving. For comparison, Geno Smith's career stats are: 988 - 1365, 67.4%, 98 TDs 21 Ints Again, I am not saying that Smith isn't a better prospect than Colt McCoy was - he clearly has more physical talent, but McCoy's stats compare very favorably especially when you consider that Smith had 2 high level NFL WRs to throw to and McCoy did not.

In all seriousness, I have read all that I have been able to find and seen all the videos that I can find on the top rookie QB prospects and I am not sold on any of them. My plan would be: Acquire Kevin Kolb if you don't have to strangle yourself next year with salary cap problems or Matt Flynn if you don't have to give up more than a 4th. Draft Nassib, Manuel, Tyler Wilson or Glennon in round two (would be willing to trade 2nd & 3rd to move to end of round 1 for the one they like best). Draft OT Lane Johnson in round 1 and pair him with Cordy Glenn to make a dynamite pass blocking and run blocking OL. Center the offense on the run game, but the tackles provide good pass protection for whomever is the QB when they mix in a pass play. I admit this does not leave much ability to address LB, WR or TE, but if they like any of those QBs enough, it is worth the chance in my opinion.

George Blanda with YA Tittle as backup😄

So, who would you have hired as HC when they hired Gailey? I think that at that point, the talent level of the team was SO low (yes, much lower than now) that almost nobody wanted the job. Do you remember all of the "names" that said no? That wasn't Nix' fault, it was what he inherited. That the weak coach that he had to hire could not put together a quality assistant coaching staff led to lots of trouble, too. Agreed, it would have been great to hire a big name proven coach at that time, but none of them wanted the job for what the Bills were willing to pay (again, Nix doesn't control that). The QB position is brought up again and again. You can disagree with the plan, but Nix had a plan to build the rest of the talent base to at least a sufficient level before going after his long-term QB. Fitz was never more than a veteran caretaker in Nix' view and the contract he gave Fitz was not top-shelf starters money. Admittedly, they might have thought they could survive with Fitz longer than they actually could, but as a couple year stop-gap not an egregious error, in my opinion. Beyond that, if you want to criticize him for not taking Dalton or Kaepernick, I can accept that and agree to some extent, but few thought either were the immediate answer. Beyond them, what other QB would you have drafted? Russell Wilson is the only one that comes to mind and while it looks like he is going to be very good, we don't know that defenses won't find a way to combat him (using his lack of height against him by keeping him in the pocket, for example). If it was so obvious that Wilson was going to be as good as he has looked, believe me he'd have been drafted in round 1. Yes, Nix misjudged that, but so did all the other GMs. As for squandering draft picks after round 3, what do you think the league "hit rate" is on those picks? It is mighty low. Besides, he has had only 3 drafts, how do you know what the success rate will be when many think you have to wait 3 years after a draft to evaluate it?

OMG, everyone STOP already with declaring TJ Graham a bust after one season with a QB who didn't have the arm to take advantage of Graham's greatest asset (deep speed). Graham's 31 catches were better than Eric Moulds managed his rookie year. Now, I am not saying that Graham will be as good as Eric Moulds, but it is VERY common for rookie WRs to struggle for a couple of years before "getting it" at the NFL level. Graham may be a bust or may become a good contributor, it is way too early to tell based on last year. Some comparisons to Graham from the same draft: Brian Quick Rams' 2nd round pick (36 picks before Graham): 11 catches Stephen Hill Jets' 2nd round pick(26 picks before Graham): 21 catches Alson Jeffery Bears' 2nd round pick (24 picks before Graham): 24 catches Ryan Broyles Lions' 2nd round pick (15 picks before Graham): 22 catches Rueben Randle Giants' 2nd round pick: 19 catches Devier Posey Houston 3rd round pick (1 spot before Graham): 6 catches TJ Graham Bills' 3rd round pick 31 catches

Nix was not GM here when Whitner and Maybin were drafted. Yes, in hindsight, the Troup over Gronkowski pick hurts. However, Troup has been held back by a back injury that was hard to predict and Gronkowski had missed his last year of college with a back injury.

I like what I have seen and read about Dion Jordan and Barkevious Mingo. I have reservations as a one year producer, but Ziggy Ansah is intriguing as an outside rush LB in a 3-4. I'd take CB Dee Milliner in a heartbeat, if available. I could make a case for taking OT Lane Johnson and having him and Cordy Glenn be the bookends of a very good OL that could help the run-oriented offense and provide good time to pass for a rookie QB taken in the 2nd round.

I don't really think that Nix thought that Fitz was "the answer". I do believe that Nix thought Fitz was better than he actually is, but I suspect Nix all along was looking for a better prospect (and said so on multiple occasions). Fitz was a stop-gap and was paid like one. I know $7M/year is a lot in most views, but for NFL QBs it certainly isn't elite pay.

There are many here who think Buddy Nix is "an idiot" because he has blindly not addressed the QB position in his 3 drafts and because he gave Ryan Fitzpatrick a middle-of-the-road starting QB contract. I think that these criticisms are pretty much unfair. First, Nix's only drafts while GM were: 2010, 2011 and 2012. While there were 2 second round QBs and one 3rd round QB drafted over that span whom the Bills might have drafted, none of them were considered such obvious "sure things" that people at the time could have blamed Nix for not drafting them. Looking back the QBs who have been drafted over that time include: 2010: Sam Bradford - #1 overall, gone before Bills' selection Tim Tebow, Jimmy Clausen, Colt McCoy, John Skelton, Dan LeFevour and Tony Pike (many here wanted these last two). Nix did select Levi Brown in round 7 and I think it could be argued that he wasn't any worse than the QBs drafted ahead of him other than Bradford. 2011: Cam Newton went 1st overall. Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert and Christian Ponder went after the Bills selected Marcel Darius. None of those guys has shown that they are very good starting QBs yet. In round 2, Andy Dalton and Colin Kaepernick went after the Bills selected Aaron Williams. Now, I'll grant that it would be nice to have either of these guys (or at least it looks that way so far early in their careers). I think this is the only pick in the 3 years where you could legitimately lament that "Buddy blew it" and yet so did many other QB-needy teams. Other QBs from that draft included Ryan Mallett who some might like, but I don't see teams lining up to trade for him and TJ Yates who had a nice run in his rookie year when nobody knew who he was. 2012: Andrew Luck, RG III and Ryan Tannehill all went before the Bills' first pick Brandon Weeden and Brock Osweiler went after the Bills' pick and then Seattle took a chance on the "too short" Russell Wilson and appears to have struck gold - however note it is still early in his career. It is possible that defenses will find schemes to keep him in the pocket and make his height work against him. Nick Foles and Kirk Cousins are "folk heroes" on this board for very brief flashes of good play early in their career. Maybe they will become very good, but the odds are not in their favor based on past drafts. So, for those that can legitimately say that they KNEW that Kaepernick, Dalton and Wilson were going to be very good, I say you had a good eye. I don't however see where Nix passed on any great QBs in round 1. Those 3 from after round 1 fooled most or all of the NFL GMs, too otherwise they'd have gone in round 1 instead of Brandon Weeden, Christian Ponder and Blaine Gabbert.

A good arm without the other qualities that Fitz has could be much worse than what Fitz produced. There is a long history of QBs with very strong arms who have had worse careers than Fitz. It is hard to find a good complete QB that can be a good NFL starter - it isn't as simple as just finding someone with a stronger arm.

Encouraging info, but those achilles injuries are really bad news. They need their medical staff to clear him and to see him working out, running, catching passes before spending money on someone with that kind of injury.

There isn't much to like in FA QBs right now. I don't see any real drop-off between Ryan Fitzpatrick and T Jackson. I don't see any QB, other than Matt Barkley, who will not be pushed for playing time by Jackson this year. Jackson is really not that bad - he isn't a long-term starter, but he had similar potential coming out of college to most of the guys in this class. I think Jackson could start the first half or more of this year as he does have considerable experience and pretty good physical talent.

I agree. Milliner has the production and showed better than expected speed at the combine. Gilmore and Milliner with McKelvin covering slot receivers would help a lot against the Pats.

Interesting read on Matt Scott. I wouldn't gamble a pick before the 3rd or 4th on him, but he seems to deserve to be drafted. I don't think that you can reasonably pin all your hopes on him being the answer to your team's QB needs, but taking a shot and hoping for the best with him makes some sense. Just my opinion....

It depends on the disparity in team's grades/evaluations of players available. If the team "grades" the BPA significantly higher than their highest graded player at a position of need, then it would seem prudent to take BPA. If the grades are close, then the case can be made for drafting for need. With regard to the QBs and the Bills' obvious need, it is my opinion that if the team thinks any of the available QBs can be a good long-term starter, then they will take that guy at 8. If they don't feel very confident in that, then I think that they'll take their highest graded player with other position needs being considered. I could see a scenario where the Bills take OT Lane Johnson to give them two very good bookend tackles. They could then have Chris Hairston compete for the open OG spot. With the two good young tackles, they can focus on a run-based offense with Spiller and Jackson and provide a good pass blocking line so that they can take a shot with one of the remaining QBs in round 2. Mike Glennon might be very good if you give him a lot of time to pass. I think Nassib has as good a chance as any of the QBs in this draft of being good and EJ Manuel could look pretty good with a line like that in front of him. Last year's low sack total allowed by the OL was a bit of a mirrage as the very short passing game masked some pass blocking deficiencies (my opinion).

I have to respectfully disagree with the comparison between Russell Wilson and Matt Scott. Russell Wilson was a 4 year starter who played very well every year, with an exceptional senior year at a new school where he won the starting job, completed 73% of his passes for 33 TDs and 4 INTs. The only reason he lasted to the 3rd round was that he is 5" shorter than the "prototypical" NFL QB. Matt Scott was a 1 year starter who completed 60% of his passes for 27 TDs and 14 INTs his senior year in the traditionally weak-defensed PAC 10. Career Stats: Russell Wilson: 907-1489 11,720 yards 60.9% 109 TDs 30 INTs Matt Scott: 415-676 4921 yards 61.4% 33 TDs 19 INTs I am not saying that Matt Scott doesn't have at least some shot to become a good NFL player, but I have to wonder about a QB who could only win the starting job in college for 1 year. The NFL is a lot different from college and only the truly special college players even get a sniff of the NFL. Not saying it is impossible for him to buck the odds, but it strikes me as unlikely that a guy who could only start 1 year in college could forge a long-term starting position in the NFL.