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Could the Bills be any better set up at QB for the future?


Shaw66

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Plenty of others have had this thought, but it just struck me how well the Bills are set up at QB.  

 

They have the guy they think is their QB for the next 10 to 15 years.  They have a journeyman backup who will know the system and can step in and run things if Allen is injured.  And they have a senior journeyman to mentor the kid and even to mentor the journeyman backup, because Anderson has plenty of experience BOTH as a starter and as a backup.  

 

It would be nice to think that McBeane planned it this way, but we all saw how the Bills actually got to this position.   If they were good enough to plan those events, they should be running the country, not the Bills.   

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It's almost inexcusable how they went into the 2018 regular season at the most important position in football, but here we are a year later and it's a complete 180.  The pessimist/realists will tell you McBeane just got lucky and "still haven't proven anything" which is fine but irrelevant.  I think most fans only care that it seems to be heading in the right direction now.

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15 minutes ago, Chandler#81 said:

Yes. I agree the QB room is solid. Know how I know it is? I haven’t bother reading a single thread on available QBs from Trade, FA or the Draft. 

This is certainly a different off season from the norm at OBD.

Me too.  Bills could have the same three QBs for the nest 5 years.   When they no longer are willing to carry 3 QBs, they'll make Anderson an assistant QB coach.  

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Seems like a blend of skill, calculated risk, and luck.

 

Skill: Picking Josh Allen

 

Calculated risk: Gambling on the QB situation, hoping Josh could learn behind a seasoned vet for a year, and thinking that AJ McCarron was that seasoned vet.

 

Luck, followed by skill: When the gamble didn't pay off, it turned out that Josh was more ready than they anticipated. Then they stumbled into a good backup situation, and parlayed that into extensions for both backups that set the team up for the next few years.

 

I've said it before, I'd hate to play poker against Beane.

Edited by WhoTom
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18 minutes ago, eball said:

It's almost inexcusable how they went into the 2018 regular season at the most important position in football, but here we are a year later and it's a complete 180.  The pessimist/realists will tell you McBeane just got lucky and "still haven't proven anything" which is fine but irrelevant.  I think most fans only care that it seems to be heading in the right direction now.

It took a little longer than some of us impatient fans would of liked, but we now have the most stable 3 headed qb team since the mid 90s.....

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2018 was a tough year - cousins and keenum got paid starter money and it looks like buffalo wanted no part in either.  They weren't willing to part with picks for Foles as they needed the ammo to maneuver the draft.  Bradford was an overpay at 20 mil.  Bridgewater was like the wildcard of top end backups - and we ended up waiting and getting McCarron for a really reasonable deal.  The thing was, he was thoroughly outplayed by Peterman and Allen in practice and preseason.  

 

The mistake was not keeping McCarron as Peterman flamed out spectacularly.  No one they could have signed on the opening of free agency was going to be a long term or even short term solution. 

 

They also probably should have pursued Anderson sooner.  Barkley kind of fell into their laps once he was healthy.  

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1 minute ago, MILFHUNTER#518 said:

I agree, but when did we have 3 QB's in the mid 90's? Please excuse my ignorance...

 

I think the Bills had Gale Gilbert behind Frank Reich behind Jim Kelly.  And I'm just too lazy to look it up, but I think Gale Gilbert became the only player to go to five Super Bowls in a row, as he ended up with San Diego after the Super Bowl run for the Bills.  That has to make him special.

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56 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Plenty of others have had this thought, but it just struck me how well the Bills are set up at QB.  

 

They have the guy they think is their QB for the next 10 to 15 years.  They have a journeyman backup who will know the system and can step in and run things if Allen is injured.  And they have a senior journeyman to mentor the kid and even to mentor the journeyman backup, because Anderson has plenty of experience BOTH as a starter and as a backup.  

 

It would be nice to think that McBeane planned it this way, but we all saw how the Bills actually got to this position.   If they were good enough to plan those events, they should be running the country, not the Bills.   

 

 

Anderson is going to collect, I believe, almost a million dollars to run the scout team and occasionally throw out some pearls of wisdom to the younglings.

 

...life must be sweet.

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32 minutes ago, eball said:

It's almost inexcusable how they went into the 2018 regular season at the most important position in football, but here we are a year later and it's a complete 180.  The pessimist/realists will tell you McBeane just got lucky and "still haven't proven anything" which is fine but irrelevant.  I think most fans only care that it seems to be heading in the right direction now.

 

There are some factors about how we opened week 1 that people either forget or dont realize though.

  1. The plan going into the 3rd preseason game was for Allen to start week 1 and they have said this directly.  After the first team struggled badly in that game, they decided they wanted to work with Allen a little more before starting.  Again, they have publicly said all this too, not opinion.  
  2. NP definitely outplayed AJ, although AJ had more respect around the league and trade value.  They were not going to carry 3 QB's and unbelievably the Raiders were still willing to give the Bills a 5th round pick for AJ after being outplayed over the preseason, so of course they took it.  Neither NP or AJ were the future, Allen was, so to get a pick for one was a no brainer.
  3. Once they moved AJ they had to focus all their time on both Allen and NP to get them ready to play.  Bringing in a 3rd QB who needs reps and time with the coaches to learn the system takes time away from both young QB's.  

QB is the most difficult position of any team sport in the world to learn and play well.  And when you have 2 young QB's they need as much of the time with the coaches as possible.  So was not a surprise to me they didn't immediately bring in another vet right before the season started and waited until they were a little more into the season before making that decision.

 

So for me, I think people way over exaggerate the situation at the start of the season.  I mean why anyone cares about it is a bit puzzling to me, especially since they did bring in a mentor a handful of weeks later.  

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Am I the only skeptic on the planet??  Full disclosure:  I thought EJ was the answer (I know that all of you geniuses knew he was a bust as soon as his name was called), but he got the big injury and then never got the accuracy and the mechanics to the pro level.  Sounds eerily like the new dude.  Yes, I get that the eyes tell us that JA is different;  however, we seem to have all our eggs in one basket AGAIN!!  What would be wrong with drafting a QB in round 4 or after??   I wouldn't be surprised if the following are on McBeane's radar:  Minshew (Wash St), Thorson (NW), and McSorley (PennSt).  I would be really impressed if they draft a QB.  We should keep drafting em until we know we've got the guy.  Go Bills!!! 

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1 hour ago, eball said:

It's almost inexcusable how they went into the 2018 regular season at the most important position in football, but here we are a year later and it's a complete 180.  The pessimist/realists will tell you McBeane just got lucky and "still haven't proven anything" which is fine but irrelevant.  I think most fans only care that it seems to be heading in the right direction now.

I think Beane has said as much.  Phrases like "on me" and "my mistake."  He made it sound like the Derek Anderson option was discussed late in camp and he blamed himself to waiting too long to make the call.

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Hopefully, obviously it all depends on how/if Allen progresses. We only saw a little bit from Barkley so we don't really even know if he's a reliable backup. I liked that he was willing to throw the ball down the field in that game but it's yet to be seen if he's a quality #2, although hopefully we won't have to find out. 

 

I'm not the biggest fan of Derek Anderson being on the roster. It's fine that he's a mentor but he looked horrific on the field. If they consider him that valuable they should just see if he wants to coach and pay him whatever he's making now for it. Better than him taking up a roster spot. I would much rather have a young developmental guy for the #3 spot. 

 

Edited by HomeskillitMoorman
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