Buffalo Bills should hope for quarterbacks to go early in 2019 NFL Draft

The Buffalo Bills should hope that the quarterbacks test well as an improved quarterback class can help drive talent to the Bills at pick No. 9 in April’s draft.

For the first time in years, the Buffalo Bills don’t have to worry about how quarterbacks perform at their Pro Day, how they look at the combine, or what it will cost to acquire one of the top signal-callers in the draft.

Buffalo has Josh Allen and despite a rocky start to his freshman season in the NFL, the Wyoming product finished the season strong and the franchise is ready to build around him moving forward.

However, with the NFL being a quarterback-driven league, fans and the franchise should keep an eye on how the quarterbacks in this class perform up to the draft. That is because if quarterbacks start to go early, it sets Buffalo up in a great position to have an elite talent fall in their lap at No. 9 or they can come away with a small ransom to trade back.

As we saw last season, quarterbacks going in the top-10 can result in immensely talented players falling in the draft. Derwin James fell all the way down to No. 17 to the Los Angeles Chargers and was a first-team All-Pro. Buffalo also benefited from four quarterbacks going in the top-10 as the team was able to trade up to No. 16 to select Tremaine Edmunds – a projected top-10 pick.

Buffalo sits in a very favorable position at No. 9. Teams such as the New York Giants (No. 6) and the Jacksonville Jaguars (No. 7) sit in front of them as needy quarterback teams. Despite selecting Josh Rosen at No. 10 in the 2018 draft, the Arizona Cardinals (No. 1) have been connected with Kyler Murray and could greatly shake up the draft from the first pick.

Other teams like the Denver Broncos (No. 10), Miami Dolphins (No. 13), and the Washington Redskins (No. 16) are in the market for new quarterbacks and could be tempted to trade up. If Murray goes at No. 1 to the Cardinals, the race for players such as Dwayne Haskins (Ohio State), Drew Lock (Missouri), and Daniel Jones (Duke) will be on.

If just one of those teams move up ahead of the Bills, it can help push some of the top talent in the draft down their way. Players like Josh Allen (LB/DE – Kentucky) and Quinnen Williams (DT – Alabama) make be long-shots, but Ed Oliver (DT – Houston), Jonah Williams (OT – Alabama), Jawaan Taylor (OT – Florida), or D.K. Metcalf (WR – Ole Miss) may all fall into the lap of the Bills.

On the chance that talent is available for the Bills, they could also field offers for No. 9 in order to gain more picks and address additional needs. Teams like Oakland and Green Bay have multiple first-round picks in this draft, but teams like Oakland and Indianapolis also have late firsts and early seconds that Buffalo could take advantage of to move back but still address needs with high picks.

Moving back is an idea I am on board with. Buffalo needs to fill a lot of holes and it is deep where the team needs help at the tight end, offensive line, and receiver positions. Being able to select prospects like TJ Hockenson (TE – Iowa) or Noah Fant (TE – Iowa) should be available in the teens-to-twenties (although I would select Hockenson at No. 9).

Erik McCoy (C – Texas A&M) would be a great option at the end of the first or early second and Hakeem Butler (WR – Iowa State) and N’Keal Harry (WR – Arizona State) will be off the board anywhere from the teens to the thirties.

As the combine wraps up this weekend, the quarterback conversation will begin to heat up. Free agency is right around the corner and Nick Foles will fill a hole somewhere while Joe Flacco will head to Denver. However, there are no guarantees that takes those teams out of the quarterback market come draft time.

For Buffalo’s sake, we should all hope that a quarterback frenzy happens early and often come April 25.