Buffalo Bills 2019 Roster Outlook: The quarterbacks
With the 2018 Buffalo Bills season nearly in the books, we will begin to take a sneak peek at how the roster will shape out in 2019. Seeing where the team came from at each position to where they could be going can provide insight for the team’s success moving forward.
Drafting Josh Allen No. 7 overall this spring meant a new era for the Buffalo Bills at quarterback. The front office and coaching staff moved on from Tyrod Taylor prior to the draft where they selected the quarterback with arguably the most athletic ability and upside, but one with the least experience and most question marks.
The team then added AJ McCarron in free agency to go along with Nathan Peterman as the three rather inexperienced quarterbacks battled it out for the starting job. Then it all went horribly, horribly wrong.
Buffalo traded McCarron, Peterman won the job, and then the first game of the season happened and the entire “plan” at quarterback went down the toilet. Allen came in far ahead of schedule and started from Weeks 2-6 and then got hurt, leading to starts from Derek Anderson, Peterman, and Matt Barkley.
Allen then came back from his injury after the bye week and has made massive strides, looking like the answer for the team at quarterback.
With Allen playing as well as he has, it is easy to forget how the coaching staff and front office completely botched the quarterback situation. Their initial plan of allowing Peterman to start was a gross miscalculation of talent and abilities, while trading away the lone player at the position with more than one year of NFL experience to his resume and any relative success was a very poor idea.
Then benching Peterman in the first game and playing the rookie who clearly needed time to develop was bad, but signing Anderson off the streets and having him start in primetime might have been the worst part. However, the ship was somehow righted with Barkley playing against the Jets and Allen’s play since injury has put faith back in the position.
It is clear that whether it was putting two veteran quarterbacks in his ear or being able to take a step back and watch for a few weeks helped Allen take a major step forward in his progression. Keeping that recipe together would be a good idea moving forward.
Heading into 2019, the Bills appear to have a more solid plan in place at the position. They have what is trending towards their franchise QB and their backup.