Why a first round QB

[DesertFox24]

I know we did not make the playoffs.

I know EJ did not have a light the world on fire we have a franchise QB type of season.

That being said a lot of HOFs did not their rookie season either.

Now if we were drafting first overall and Andrew Luck was coming out or Peyton Manning then I would jump on board in a heart beat.

That being said none of the QBs coming out this year that are consesus first rounders have ever played in a pro system and have a lot of flaws to their game.

Teddy is an accurate passer but gets scared of pressure in the middel and if you watch his games like I did throws short of the sticks a lot and his WR get YAC for the first down. He is shorter than 6'3 and about 200 pounds this season so when he bulks up will probably lose some of his speed and suddeness.

Bortles has a better arm and is bigger but played same bad competition and is not as accurate as Teddy

Manziel is shorter thn 6'0 and his style will not work in the nfl it just will not I am sorry. He played in the same system that Case Keenum played in and Keenum had better passing stats.

Carr - I liked him until I saw him play USC in the bowl game. He is just like his brother and will cave to pressure. Has better tools than his brother or dilfer but needs to learn to make quicker reads.

Bottom line I watch these guys and I just cannot for the life of me see how they are rated so much higher than Geno and EJ. If anything I think Geno and EJ are better prospects than all of them except Bortles who is kind of an unknown due to competition but he does have size.

That being said I want us to draft a QB in rounds 3 or later to compete with EJ, Jeff, and Thad. A legitimate backup with legitimate competition and heat applied to EJ. I want to see how EJ handles it and how he develops this offseason and season. If EJ bombs again in 2014 then draft a QB in the first.

[Don't Panic]

One month down, three to go...

http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/showthread.php/221927-EJ-Manuel-is-the-Bills-QB-of-the-future?highlight=

I'm with you on the draft, I just think we're going to see a guy in the 3rd at another position (OG, WR, S) that makes more sense. I'd be happy taking a guy 4th or later just to get another arm in the mix.

[Albany,n.y.]

I know we did not make the playoffs.

I know EJ did not have a light the world on fire we have a franchise QB type of season.

That being said a lot of HOFs did not their rookie season either.

Now if we were drafting first overall and Andrew Luck was coming out or Peyton Manning then I would jump on board in a heart beat.

That being said none of the QBs coming out this year that are consesus first rounders have ever played in a pro system and have a lot of flaws to their game.

Teddy is an accurate passer but gets scared of pressure in the middel and if you watch his games like I did throws short of the sticks a lot and his WR get YAC for the first down. He is shorter than 6'3 and about 200 pounds this season so when he bulks up will probably lose some of his speed and suddeness.

Bortles has a better arm and is bigger but played same bad competition and is not as accurate as Teddy

Manziel is shorter thn 6'0 and his style will not work in the nfl it just will not I am sorry. He played in the same system that Case Keenum played in and Keenum had better passing stats.

Carr - I liked him until I saw him play USC in the bowl game. He is just like his brother and will cave to pressure. Has better tools than his brother or dilfer but needs to learn to make quicker reads.

Bottom line I watch these guys and I just cannot for the life of me see how they are rated so much higher than Geno and EJ. If anything I think Geno and EJ are better prospects than all of them except Bortles who is kind of an unknown due to competition but he does have size.

That being said I want us to draft a QB in rounds 3 or later to compete with EJ, Jeff, and Thad. A legitimate backup with legitimate competition and heat applied to EJ. I want to see how EJ handles it and how he develops this offseason and season. If EJ bombs again in 2014 then draft a QB in the first.

I don't get your conclusions.
1) You think the top guys aren't very good prospects, so you want us to get a guy rated below all of them who will be "A legitimate backup with legitimate competition and heat applied to EJ.". How are they going to do that? At best they can get a 2nd tier developmental guy who might be a little better than Tuel was this year.

2nd you say "If EJ bombs again in 2014 then draft a QB in the first". That mean 2 things. 1) Your "legitimate backup" doesn't have the ability to compete with EJ. Therefore no pressure on EJ from him. Otherwise you would have said if EJ bombs, put the rookie in 2) You think there will be someone there at the Bills spot, which you have no idea what spot that will be, who will be better than any 1st or 2nd round option at QB this year. How can you possibly know that? If EJ bombs "again" as you put it, they'll still win 6-8 games & be drafting mid-pack. They won 6 this year, a year you considered EJ to have bombed.

[DesertFox24]

I don't get your conclusions.
1) You think the top guys aren't very good prospects, so you want us to get a guy rated below all of them who will be "A legitimate backup with legitimate competition and heat applied to EJ.". How are they going to do that? At best they can get a 2nd tier developmental guy who might be a little better than Tuel was this year.

2nd you say "If EJ bombs again in 2014 then draft a QB in the first". That mean 2 things. 1) Your "legitimate backup" doesn't have the ability to compete with EJ. Therefore no pressure on EJ from him. Otherwise you would have said if EJ bombs, put the rookie in 2) You think there will be someone there at the Bills spot, which you have no idea what spot that will be, who will be better than any 1st or 2nd round option at QB this year. How can you possibly know that? If EJ bombs "again" as you put it, they'll still win 6-8 games & be drafting mid-pack. They won 6 this year, a year you considered EJ to have bombed.


My logic is simple I agree with drafting a QB till we find one that is the man.

The man could be Jeff Tuel, EJ Manual, or a mid to late round 2014 draft pick.

However, I do not want to waste a first round draft pick on QBs that are not in the Luck Manning category the year after drafting a first round QB.

If in 2014 Manual fails then we draft a guy in the first and let him compete with the 2014 mid round rookie and whomever is the third guy. Hopefully a first rounder in 2015 is better than a 2014 developmental guy (unless he is tom brady reborn).

In a perfect world I would not draft a QB and sign a vet QB to be compete with Thad and Tuel for the number 2 spot but there are no vet QBs that are worth anything that are going to be UFA anymore.

Now going back to my statement about 2014 first round potential QBs, none have played in pro system and personally I do not like the skill set or the level of competition they have played or when they did play that level I did not see things or throws that made me think this guy is sure fire at the next level.

The system they played in is based on the air raid and is mostly throwing to wide open guys in space, that system does not work in the nfl because nfl defenses are WAY faster than college defenses.

Look at FSU, Auburn, and Alabama those are the consensus best defenses in college and between the three schools maybe 10 defense players will be drafted in the top 3 rounds in the 2014 and 2015 draft, so less than 3 per team are NFL starter caliber on the best def teams in the country.

That coupled with the physical skill set that Manual has makes him a comparable or better potential prospect than those guys.

[jdaltroy5]

We should draft BPA, including QB.

If the best guy on the board is a QB, then take him.

[k-oneputt]

One question : Did you watch EJ play at FSU ?

[IlluminatusUIUC]

We should draft BPA, including QB.

If the best guy on the board is a QB, then take him.

I agree with that. Oddly enough IMO we are perfectly positioned to go BPA. We have a lot of holes, but none of them stands out as being so much more glaring then the others the way QB and Wideout were last season. They could go almost any direction except halfback or dback and I could get behind it.

[DesertFox24]

One question : Did you watch EJ play at FSU ?

Yeah I did and he played well. The loss to NC State was not his fault Jimbo wanted to run the game out.

He won four bowl games and the ACC and beat Clemson

Also like to point out he was playing with a lot of fresh and sophs that granted are very good but they were not as developed as they are now.

Will be interesting to see how Winston does next year.

I always want BPA just not QB in the first 3 rounds this year.

Granted I dont think I have to worry about it because based on what they said they want from the QB position last year none of these guys fit the bill, well maybe Bortles.

If Bortles is available at 9 I say trade down.

[THATHURMANATOR]

I also am not huge on any of the QBs coming out.

A few are more highly touted than EJ but none blow me away.

I did watch EJ at FSU. Whenever I did I always thought he looked decent and wondered why he wasn't more highly thought of. Now don't get me wrong I wasn't analyzing every came and only casually saw 5 or 6 games over his career.

[better days]

We should draft BPA, including QB.

If the best guy on the board is a QB, then take him.

I have no problem with this..................BUT there will always be some other position player available that is better than the QB at that spot.

[better days]

I also am not huge on any of the QBs coming out.

A few are more highly touted than EJ but none blow me away.

I did watch EJ at FSU. Whenever I did I always thought he looked decent and wondered why he wasn't more highly thought of. Now don't get me wrong I wasn't analyzing every came and only casually saw 5 or 6 games over his career.

I did not watch every game EJ played at FSU either, but I saw him a few times.

He won every bowl game he played in & he was by far the best QB in the Senior bowl on either team.

People that think EJ will not improve because he hasn't become Peyton Manning by now don't know what they are talking about.

When the Bills drafted him, we were all told EJ was RAW & needed time to develop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TigerJ]

If you're spending too much to hedge your bet at one position, you limit the improvement you can make at other positions, that might represent a greater immediate need. That is, if you draft a QB in the first round just so he can compete with Manuel, then you're not drafting a player you know can step right in and start at another position because what the Bills have there is trash. You can justify it if that player has Andrew Luck-like potential, but not if he might only be a little better than Manuel eventually.

[HAMMER]

The lunacy continues. Please stop wasting time and bandwidth on these threads. The Bills are not even going to consider a QB in the first round this year. End the debate now and save us all from the endless speculation to which we already have the answer. EJ is our starter next year.

[BuffaloRedleg]

If you're spending too much to hedge your bet at one position, you limit the improvement you can make at other positions, that might represent a greater immediate need. That is, if you draft a QB in the first round just so he can compete with Manuel, then you're not drafting a player you know can step right in and start at another position because what the Bills have there is trash. You can justify it if that player has Andrew Luck-like potential, but not if he might only be a little better than Manuel eventually.

That may be the case with other positions, but with the lopsided importance of a QB this is just not correct.

A QB is 80% of your team. That is one position where it is acceptable to hedge your bets, because if you don't have one nothing else matters. If you have one, then you are already competing for a playoff position and can build from there.

I'll stop you beforehand and say that yes it would be good to have all other pieces in place and then get your QB and he just settles right in. Yes you need to have an offensive line that can protect him so he doesn't get raped and lose his confidence. Yes if you think he may only be marginally better or equal to EJ then you ought to not take a chance because you aren't getting bang for your buck. But, if you worry about everything else more than QB you end up with constant 6-10 teams that draft around 8th every year... i.e. the Bills.

I have a hard time believing that none of these top QBs have better potential than EJ. We all agreed that he would take a lot of work and he did little this year to prove otherwise. He still is only a prospect and nothing has changed that. Now all of a sudden people are forgetting that and claiming that he is better than guys who had better college careers and showed more promise in their collegiate careers.

[X-Era]

The lunacy continues. Please stop wasting time and bandwidth on these threads. The Bills are not even going to consider a QB in the first round this year. End the debate now and save us all from the endless speculation to which we already have the answer. EJ is our starter next year.
It's the off-season. We've been talking about the QB every year for decades.

[X-Era]

I agree with that. Oddly enough IMO we are perfectly positioned to go BPA. We have a lot of holes, but none of them stands out as being so much more glaring then the others the way QB and Wideout were last season. They could go almost any direction except halfback or dback and I could get behind it.I agree.

Although I would go with weaknesses rather than holes. Depending on what happens with Byrd and Chandler, S and TE might be the only positions where we are losing a starter. So those would be the only holes. The rest are areas where we need or could use upgrades.

On what to do at 9, A QB may be there but maybe not. If there is one I don't think it will get much consideration in the OBD war room. But there don't seem to be players at our biggest need areas like G and TE that would be worthy of the pick. At this point Ebron seems to be more of a mid 1st rounder or late 1st rounder. And then at G I could see the best of the bunch going later in round 1.

So, that means without a trade down, we won't likely have a player worthy of the top 10 pick that also fills one of our biggest needs. But with plenty of other needs we could go BPA. We could then go after a OLB, WR, or OT.

Due to the record number of juniors declaring, I'd like to move down and add picks. If we move to mid or late 1 we can get another pick or picks and still get a prospect at a top need like G or TE.

[TigerJ]

That may be the case with other positions, but with the lopsided importance of a QB this is just not correct.

A QB is 80% of your team. That is one position where it is acceptable to hedge your bets, because if you don't have one nothing else matters. If you have one, then you are already competing for a playoff position and can build from there.

I'll stop you beforehand and say that yes it would be good to have all other pieces in place and then get your QB and he just settles right in. Yes you need to have an offensive line that can protect him so he doesn't get raped and lose his confidence. Yes if you think he may only be marginally better or equal to EJ then you ought to not take a chance because you aren't getting bang for your buck. But, if you worry about everything else more than QB you end up with constant 6-10 teams that draft around 8th every year... i.e. the Bills.

I have a hard time believing that none of these top QBs have better potential than EJ. We all agreed that he would take a lot of work and he did little this year to prove otherwise. He still is only a prospect and nothing has changed that. Now all of a sudden people are forgetting that and claiming that he is better than guys who had better college careers and showed more promise in their collegiate careers.Odds are 3 or 4 QBs are going to be drafted before Buffalo picks at #9. Many think Teddy Bridgewater, Johnny Manziel, and Blake Bortles are shoe-ins in the top five, and some think Derek Carr will join them in the top 7 or 8. Next guys on the list are Tajh Boyd who is now regarded as a second rounder and Zack Mettenberger, who after blowing a knee (ACL) carries a 2nd or 3rd round grade. I don't think he two of them carry better odds of long term success than Manuel. If you want to see Buffalo get raked over the coals by the national media, just have them draft Boyd or Mettenberger in the first round.