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The Buffalo Bills presumably would have been able to find their much-needed franchise quarterback with the third overall pick in April’s draft, which did belong to the Indianapolis Colts up until last Saturday, but is the property of the New York Jets following a massive trade between the two teams. Apparently, the Jets, who moved up from sixth overall, are also one of the teams looking to nab one of this year’s top incoming pivots.
For what it’s worth, Bills general manager Brandon Beane told Sports Illustrated’s Peter King last Friday prior to the Jets-Colts trade that the Bills were undecided on trying to move up in the draft from pick No. 12. This also coincides with the reports that surfaced on Monday that the team has not contacted the Cleveland Browns about acquiring the rights to the first overall pick.
“The truth? Most of these quarterbacks I’ve only spent 15 minutes with,” Beane told King. “I haven’t spent enough time to have an opinion about any of them yet, honestly. I actually sent a little note to our [scouts] yesterday. We got six weeks to get our board together. I am not there yet, knowing if we can or will move up again. I want [head coach] Sean [McDermott] to get to know all of them. We’re just keeping an open mind. Where we’re at, we’ve got the picks, we’ve got the draft capital. I’m not ready to pull the trigger.”
If Beane was indeed being truthful with King, and the reports from Monday are correct, then it begs asking why the Bills aren’t doing everything they can to increase their odds of getting a potential franchise quarterback. Sure, to this point in the process, none of the incoming QBs are being universally heralded as the top guy to go with, but the consensus among draft experts is that the class is pretty strong overall. At least four of them are, anyway, with there being a strong possibility that they could all be off the board within the first 10 picks, which would obviously leave the Bills on the outside looking in.
Free-agent pickup AJ McCarron is decent, in fact, he may very well have what it takes to keep the Bills competitive for awhile, but odds are he’s not going to be their long-term answer. So with this in mind, the Bills have got to find a way to move up in the draft.