WGR 550's Joe Buscaglia is always one of the more interesting Buffalo Bills reads when it comes to the annual NFL Draft. He published a new mock draft earlier this afternoon, and in it projected USC quarterback Matt Barkley to the Bills with the No. 8 overall pick.

It's not the first time that Buscaglia has projected Barkley to the Bills this off-season; the difference is that last time, he had Barkley going to Buffalo in Round 2. Things have changed, however - Barkley's expected to do well at his pro day on March 27, and the Bills' quarterback situation changed with last week's release of Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Writes Buscaglia: "Barkley makes more sense than you'd think at first. I think he fits right in to what Nathaniel Hackett liked to do in his time at Syracuse, highlighted by a firm belief in West Coast principles. Barkley possesses a better arm than many give him credit for and will have the arm talent to make the throws quarterbacks need to in the NFL, especially in Hackett's offense."

Buscaglia's mock draft pick is a good launching point for a discussion, and we have two questions in particular that we'd like y'all to mull:

• If Geno Smith is off the board when the Bills pick at No. 8, is Barkley the next-best option? Or, rather, is he the easiest quarterback (aside from Smith) to advocate picking that early?
• How worried are you about the fact that Barkley comes out of a USC program that has produced a lot of so-so quarterbacks of late? We ask because Buscaglia made some pointed comments about that very topic in his write-up.