Bills Position Battle Review: Backup Quarterback Race Altered

It was only a little over a week ago that Vince Young appeared to lock down the Buffalo Bills' backup quarterback job with an 8-of-14, 123-yard performance in a pre-season loss to the Minnesota Vikings. By last evening, Young's performance against Pittsburgh (12-of-26, 103 yards, 2 interceptions) had prompted the Bills to flip a 2013 seventh-round pick to the Seattle Seahawks for Tarvaris Jackson.

Peter King of Sports Illustrated reports that the seventh-round pick could become a sixth-rounder if Jackson is active for six games. (He'll be active for much more than that as the backup to Ryan Fitzpatrick.) Keeping in mind that the trade won't be official until Jackson agrees to a re-structured contract, the deal seems like more of a formality at this point - and Buffalo's backup quarterback race will be over.

The only question that remains at this point - again, aside from the deal actually getting done - is whether or not the Bills feel comfortable proceeding with their plan to keep Brad Smith as the third quarterback early on, knowing that Jackson will only have two weeks at best in Chan Gailey's offense heading into the regular season. It seems possible at this point that the Bills could keep Young (or Tyler Thigpen, I suppose) early in the season until Jackson's feet are wet, lest the Bills have to turn to a mentally overwhelmed Jackson or an out-of-his-element Smith if Fitzpatrick gets hurt.