Thought Exercise: Best Bills QB (99-2017) who'd be JA17 backup

[BullBuchanan]

Fitzpatrick, and not close. He's the only guy that could come in off injury (although his presence might ensure the starter has one) and rattle off a string of MVP worthy games, saving a season.

[Alphadawg7]

2 hours ago, boyst said:

Not only that we had Mario williams, too. 

 

With whitner we had 5 of the top ten picks of the 2006 draft on our roster lol

 

I don't know what made me more sad...remembering that the unqualified joke of a FO back then brought in dying corpses like Young, Bush, and Leinart during their career farewell tours or the reminder we took Whitner over Ngata.  I feel like I need a shower just thinking about this grossness lol

[TheBrownBear]

If we are talking on the field play only - I'd feel very comfortable with Flutie, slightly less so with Fitz and Orton, and generally okay with Tyrod or Holcomb as caretaker types.  And I'd obviously take the version of Bledsoe we saw during the first 8 games of 2002, but nothing thereafter.  Some decent backup options when we look at our former QBs through that lens.

 

If we are considering attitude, leadership and likelihood of being a helpful backup, I'd probably focus in on Fitz and Tyrod.

Edited 5 hours ago by TheBrownBear

[34-78-83]

4 hours ago, dave mcbride said:

I don't know about that. Flute was flat-out better than Johnson. He's not even in the same league as Allen.

 

While that's mostly true, that still was his mindset and personality, and the Bills in '25 (as per the OP question) would never have someone like him in that room.

[boyst]

1 hour ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

I don't know what made me more sad...remembering that the unqualified joke of a FO back then brought in dying corpses like Young, Bush, and Leinart during their career farewell tours or the reminder we took Whitner over Ngata.  I feel like I need a shower just thinking about this grossness lol

there were so many wtf were we thinking where we were clearly going the wrong way. troupe over Gronk. Basham over Humphrey...or was it Linderbaum? TJ graham over russ wilson in a trade up.

 

i don't get it.

Edited 4 hours ago by boyst

[SoCal Deek]

Has to be Peterman. He’s the one guy that would keep Josh on the field no matter how bad any non life threatening injury might be. 

[Alphadawg7]

2 minutes ago, boyst said:

there were so many wtf were we thinking where we were clearly going the wrong way. troupe over Gronk. Basham over Humphrey...or was it Linderbaum? TJ graham over russ wilson in a trade up.

 

i don't get it.

 

I was yelling for 2 rounds to take Wilson...when we traded up I thought 100% it had to be for Wilson.  Part of my soul died when I heard TJ Graham's name called and I was like who Da F is that?  

[HardyBoy]

JP Losman and I will die on this hill...he was incredibly mismanaged and is a very similar player to Allen in terms of physical ability (not saying he's on Allen's level, but similar) and from all accounts he's incredibly smart and understands the game at a super high level (this is what caused him to be viewed as negative instead of what he was which was curious and passionate).

[thewookie1]

Tyrod or Fitz would be you top options. Tyrod would bring running talent whereas Fitz brings a more similar demeanor to the game’s approach. Both are pretty equal as throwers. 

[SirAndrew]

21 hours ago, Bruffalo said:

Prime Flutie for me and I don't know that it's really close. Fitz is a distant second.

 

Flutie could make magic happen, I'd prefer having a wildcard backup QB who can make plays out of nothing when things break down over a gunslinger like Fitz.

Fitz was better served as a placeholder QB before teams found their real franchise QB. He was fun to watch, but could be a turnover machine. It’s the exact opposite of what a Super Bowl contender needs out of a backup. Fitz could win games, but also lose them.
 

I liked Fitz, but my unpopular belief has always been that Fitz didn’t play smart football in big moments. The guy didn’t know when to stop forcing the ball. That’s not what I want from a backup. 

[wppete]

Fitzpatrick