Buffalo Bills Shouldn’t Consider Drafting a Quarterback in First Round
By Erik Smeal
As the NFL draft gets closer and closer, the rumors get stronger and stronger that the Buffalo Bills are possibly drafting a quarterback with the tenth overall pick.
Other rumors have the Buffalo Bills even moving up to select a quarterback before another team does.
After being suggested as a weak quarterback class, slowly but surely the quarterback stock has risen. Recent mocks have three or four quarterbacks going in the first round, with a few of them possibly going in the top half of the first round.
Why all the sudden hype? Was it the combine that made their stock rise? Was it their pro days?
I think it’s more because the NFL is starved for franchise quarterbacks. Only a handful of teams (Patriots, Raiders, Ravens, Bengals, Colts, Giants, Seahawks, Packers, Lions, Falcons, Bucs, Panthers) have their franchise QB in place. Other teams have their guy also (Chiefs, Chargers, Steelers, Giants, Cardinals, Saints), but need to start looking to the future.
A few more teams (Titans, Cowboys, Eagles, Rams) have a young promising QB in place and hope they can be the long term franchise quarterback.
As far as the Bills, we all know the story far too well. They have been looking for a franchise quarterback since Jim Kelly. So why not draft a quarterback in the first round? In my opinion, the Buffalo Bills have too many pressing needs and only six picks to address those needs.
The 10th pick is too crucial to take a chance on this year’s crop of quarterbacks, only to have them sit on the bench for the first year or two. Tyrod Taylor may not be the long term option, but he does buy the Buffalo Bills some time to revamp a roster with several missing pieces.
If the Bills want to make another run to end the playoff drought, it needs to happen soon. They have several key starters who may only have a few years left. Then there’s the contract situations on several players the Bills will have to decide on in the next couple years.
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Buffalo has a lot of money tied up in a small group of players, leading them to have salary cap restrictions. In the coming years a few of these key starters may become cap casualties, leading the Bills into a period of transition. In the meantime, they need to address immediate roster openings and also build for the future.
The most cost effective way to do this is through the draft, an area where the Bills have been lacking overall going back several years. Not only do they have the worst draft retention rate in the NFL, but they most recently saw the last of their 2013 draft picks walk out the door.
The Buffalo Bills salary cap situation is just as dire. A team that hasn’t been to the playoffs in 17 years and without a true franchise quarterback should have much more room under the salary cap. To put it in perspective, the New England Patriots have twice as much cap room ($20 million) as the Bills.
That’s after locking up Stephon Gilmore and Dont’a Hightower with big contracts.
The best way to rectify the Bills’ cap situation is smarter drafting. With so many questions surrounding this quarterback draft class, it seems like a substantial risk to take one with the tenth overall pick. With solid talent at wide receiver and defensive back, the Buffalo Bills could address an immediate need for a day one starter with their first round pick.
Let’s take a look at the quarterbacks coming out in the 2017 NFL Draft.