Bills draft predictions: Buffalo targeting a quarterback

The first round of the 2013 NFL Draft is set to begin in just 12 hours, and the quarterback-needy Buffalo Bills are one of the big story lines of the first round heading into this evening's coverage. With the rumor mill spinning at warp speed and no one really sure what's going to happen, sometimes the best coping mechanism is to make a bold prediction, clear the airwaves and enjoy the event as it unfolds.

For that reason, consider this your day-long open thread to make your well-thought-out (or crazy) Bills draft predictions. I'll start with mine, and it's 100 percent opinion: Buddy Nix will never again consider trading back into the first round in a draft he runs as much as he will tonight.

I can't imagine that Nix, who is a value-based drafter, is completely sold on the idea of taking a quarterback with the No. 8 overall pick. It is plain as day that he'd prefer to trade down - he's even gone out of the way to point out that he'd like to recoup a draft pick to make up for the one he flipped for Tarvaris Jackson - and that if he were to deal out of the Top 10, he'd be much more comfortable rationalizing taking a quarterback prospect earlier than he'd typically do so.

There's one small hurdle to that ideal scenario, however: they'd need to find a team willing to trade up. That's obviously easier said than done. If the Bills are forced to stay at No. 8 overall, would it really shock anyone if Nix got cold feet on the quarterback front, stuck to the grades on the board and took the best player at a different area of need? I, for one, wouldn't be shocked at all.

But if he were to do that, he'd be gambling that the quarterback he otherwise would've taken at No. 8 will be available later on - and the longer he waits on that player, the more likely that said player will be snapped up by another of the draft's many quarterback-starved teams. Nix may feel compelled to move up from No. 41 into the early thirties - even if he has to sacrifice a second- or third-round pick in the 2014 NFL Draft - to get that quarterback.

I'm not saying he'd like it, and I'm not saying it's Plan A - but if Nix decides to gamble and wait a bit to draft a quarterback, he'll consider a trade up, even if it'd be against his every instinct to do so.

That's my draft prediction (which, sadly, may never be quantifiably proven; thus is life). What's yours?