Buffalo Bills Draft QB Cardale Jones In The Fourth Round

On Saturday, the Buffalo Bills drafted Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL Draft. The quarterback was linked to Buffalo in a pre-draft visit earlier in April. He was the second straight Ohio State player taken by the team as they took Adolphus Washington in the third round.

Doug Whaley had made it pretty clear the Bills were looking to take a quarterback in the draft this year and the only question was in what round and which one. Jones was the 9th quarterback selected in the draft at #139 and was picked just four spots after the Dallas Cowboys drafted Dak Prescott at #135.

Jones is considered a bit of a project but there weren’t eight other quarterbacks in this draft that have more potential in the NFL than Jones which means the Bills got pretty good value for this pick.

Jones had an extremely interesting college career. It was one big roller coaster ride to be honest. You can read about it more in our pre-draft visit article but we can summarize it here as well. He went from being a third-string player to starting quarterback in the Big Ten and National Championship games and won both of them.

He entered the next season as a starter and lost his job midseason to J.T. Barrett. Another interesting tidbit on Jones is that he has never lost a game that he started in his college career.

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Jones has one of the bigger arms in the draft but he has issues with accuracy and making decisions. He’s got a huge frame at 6’5″ and 253 pounds. In some ways, scouts say many of the same things about him that they said about E.J. Manuel which has to be a scary thought for Bills fans.

Jones should get a much better shot than E.J. in the NFL. Manuel was thrust right into the lineup his rookie season which was not originally the plan. Jones will have time to sit on the bench and learn from both E.J. and Tyrod Taylor and hopefully he can fix some of the flaws in his game during that time.

General Manager Doug Whaley said this does not change E.J.’s status as the number two quarterback on the team. It seems like just smoke and mirrors though and the Bills will be hoping that Jones is able to play at or near the same level as Manuel in camp so that they can make Cardale Jones the second quarterback on the depth chart where he will get more reps in practice during training camp.

Jones is definitely a project but the Bills got good value in the pick considering how many other QB’s were already taken and the potential that Jones has if he is able to correct his flaws.

The Bills have now addressed four areas of need including defensive end (Shaq Lawson), linebacker (Reggie Ragland), defensive tackle (Adolphus Washington) and now a quarterback in their first four picks. They have to be really excited about the way the draft has fallen for them so far.

If you want to learn more about Cardale Jones check out some of the below videos.

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