With a slew of injuries to the quarterback room, 28-year-old Matt Barkley was named the Buffalo Bills starter for Sunday.
But is this what’s best for the team?
Matt Barkley was a fourth-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in 2013.
He signed with the Buffalo Bills as a free agent two weeks ago after Derek Anderson suffered a concussion in the Monday night game against New England.
By making Matt Barkley their fourth different starter, #Bills are going with a second veteran QB whose previous regular-season action was in 2016. Derek Anderson was the first.
— Vic Carucci (@viccarucci) November 10, 2018
The five-year vet has started six games in his career, all of which were made in 2016 with the Chicago Bears. Barkley led the team to a 1-5 record throwing for 1611 yards with eight touchdown passes and 14 interceptions.
Barkley was once a dazzling quarterback prospect from USC who started as a true freshman. He finished sixth in Heisman voting his junior year where he threw for 3,528 yards with 39 touchdowns and just seven picks. The six-foot-two pivot was being touted as the next big thing.
That is until he injured his shoulder in his senior year. Barkley has never regained his star status since the injury and has been an afterthought in the NFL. He hasn’t played an NFL game since ringing in 2017 on New Year’s Day with a 38-10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
Barkley’s problem in the NFL has never been his ability to move the ball and create offense, rather he has the same problem another Bills QB has had over his short two-year career. His name rhymes with Skate Weterman.
The newest Bills signal caller has 18 career interceptions in 266 passing attempts. In other words, he throws an interception in 6.8 percent of his pass attempts. No bueno.
So is Barkley really that much an upgrade over Nathan Peterman? Especially when you consider he’s only had about two weeks to learn the playbook. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
I get it, Coach Sean McDermott is in a bad spot with this team, especially with the quarterback situation. He’s down to his QB-four on the year. The Bills haven’t had four different starters in a season since 1987— and that was the only time it had ever happened.
At 2-7, it’s hard to not say McDermott isn’t feeling the heat on his seat. Perhaps he knew that starting Peterman again could be the final straw.
So the question is:
Does McDermott really believe Barkley gives his team the best better chance to win, or is this a move he felt he needed to make to please the fan base, and perhaps ownership to cool his seat?
Odds are we will never truly know. One thing is for sure, though, Barkley vs. Josh McCown will not be flexed into primetime this Sunday. Try to enjoy the game, folks.