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Pre-Draft QB Analysis

I'd like to welcome myself to the Buffalo Rumblings.  This is my first 'diary'. I've replied to a few other posts, so hopefully I can help get some good discussion on the Bills flowing.  Here's my thoughts on the QB position...

The Past:

Nearly six months ago the Bills were heading into the bye week after a blowout against New England looking like they were primed to have a top 5 draft pick.  And it was looking like that draft pick would have to be used on another QB.

The start of JP Losman's 2006 season was inauspicious at best.  In the first seven games prior to the bye, he had only two real solid performance in back to back home games against the Jets and Vikings.  He was too inconsistent and continued to make too many errors.  Following the bye week, his luck changed and his overall game took a nice leap forward.

After back to back 8 completion performances against the Packers and Colts where he was limited by the coaching staff in his downfield throws, the  offensive playback was finally opened up at Houston.  Two first quarter 83 yard bombs to Lee Evans really set the tone for Losman's second half surge.  He would go on to play very well over the final two months of the season and solidified his spot as the starting QB of the Buffalo Bills.

The Present:

This offseason JP needs to work on his reading of defenses and continuing to cut back on mistakes.  He struggled at times recognizing matchups, which led to a fair number of turnovers last year.  Even at the end of the season he was still struggling as evidence by his gift pick six against Baltimore.  For the Bills to have a successful offense, JP needs to avoid those types of plays at all costs.  With another off-season under his belt and more long hours in the video room, Losman should be more adept at recognizing adverse situations and audibling into advantageous plays.  Maybe the biggest key to his offseason is the fact he gets to continue working in the same offense as last year.  For the first time in his career the Bills offensive playbook isn't going through a major rehauling in the offseason.  He should have an extra level of confidence going into this season.

Behind Losman is now Craig Nall.  After trading Kelly Holcomb, Nall moves up to the #2 spot on the depth chart.  The Bills should be in decent shape if JP were to go down, but Nall is still a little bit of a mystery.  He's obviously highly thought of by the staff and good things have been said of him by Brett Favre, but he's never really gotten any extended playing time on the field. I, for one, am a little nervous about Nall, but you can't go wrong with a guy who has a career QB rating of 139.4, can you?!?

The Future:

The Bills obviously need a 3rd QB behind Losman and Nall and should look to the later rounds for a promising rookie.  I personally think a 6th or 7th round pick with some upside would be an excellent choice.

What to do:

There is a strong need to add another QB.  I don't think Kevin Eakin is the answer as the 3rd QB, whoever he is.  

In the end I think the Bills should look to some of these guys in the 6th/7th rounds:
-Tyler Palko, Pitt
-Luke Getsy, Akron
-James Pinkney, East Carolina
-Lester Ricard, Tulane
-Matt Gutierrez, Idaho State
-Jeff Rowe, Nevada

I like Ricard with the 7th rounder we acquired from Baltimore.

Just another great fan opinion shared on the pages of BuffaloRumblings.com.