Throughout the history of the Buffalo Bills, there have been a mixture of great moments and horrible moments. The good news for the Bills in today’s NFL, they are one of the best teams in the league and mainly because of having continuity within the organization, as well as having a star quarterback in Josh Allen. However, we know that this has not always been the case with the history of the Bills.
There have arguably been a lot more bad moments than good moments in history. Whether it was last season or going back to when the team was first founded, the Bills have faced their times of rough challenges just like any other franchise.
One piece of bad history involving the Bills that has been overlooked a lot involves a quarterback in the 1970s with Gary Marangi, who was drafted in the third round by the Bills in 1974 out of Boston College. Now granted, being a third round pick doesn’t have a lot of high expectations, but it’s still early enough to where they are expected to contribute something great to the team. Well, that’s the last thing Marangi did as a Bill.
Gary Marangi was more of a bust than Nathan Peterman was for Bills
That’s right, Marangi was more of a miss for Buffalo than Nathan Peterman was back in 2017. I know, Peterman threw five interceptions in one half and didn’t last more than 1.5 seasons with the Bills. However, Peterman was a fifth round pick and he was never a full-time starter for the Bills. Marangi was, though.
Marangi played in just three seasons in the NFL, all of them with Buffalo, and he finished his career with a 36.7% completion rate, 1,373 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 21 interceptions. He never won a game as a starter (0-7 in 1976).
That specific season in 1976 is mentioned because it was O.J. Simpson’s last best year of his career where he rushed for 1,503 yards and 8 touchdowns. It was his last season as an All-Pro and Pro Bowl player of his career, showing that Marangi wasted the last great year that Simpson had on the football field.
So, looking at Marangi’s stats and draft status, there is an argument to be made that maybe drafting Peterman wasn’t the worst pick by the Bills. Don’t get me wrong, drafting Peterman was a huge miss for the organization. However, Peterman only played in four games in two seasons with the Bills and he wasn’t a starter for more than one game at a time.