Buffalo Bills say ‘we’re set’ with quarterbacks
ORCHARD PARK — There was a whole lot of time spent over the past few months debating how the Buffalo Bills were going to upgrade their, ahem, less-than-stellar quarterback situation.
Donovan McNabb or Jason Campbell in a trade? How about Jimmy Clausen, Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy, Dan LeFevour, or Tony Pike in the draft? What about a free agent? Daunte Culpepper pretty much begged for the job.
Turned out it was a whole lot of wasted time wondering what the Bills might do.
They didn’t make a trade or sign a free agent (yet), and they didn’t address that position of glaring need until the seventh round of the NFL Draft Saturday afternoon when they chose Levi Brown from Troy University.
But here’s why, according to general manager Buddy Nix.
“We’re set with where we are,” Nix said referring to holdover quarterbacks Trent Edwards, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Brian Brohm.
Bills fans everywhere are probably screaming in protest, but Nix is fairly certain those three and Brown will be the quarterbacks competing for the starting job this summer at St. John Fisher College.
“It’s their choice,” Nix said of the fans who may be upset. “But hopefully we’ll give them something to get excited about. Our goal is for a top guy to come out of this pack. We’re going to make this thing work.”
Given the success rate of the vast majority of seventh-round quarterbacks, it would be a big leap to think Brown will be that guy.
Since 2000 there have been 21 quarterbacks taken in the seventh round prior to Saturday. The only ones who have started games in the NFL are Matt Cassel (30 starts), Ryan Fitzpatrick (23), Tim Rattay (18), Ken Dorsey (13), Tyler Thigpen (11), Cody Pickett (2), John Navarre (1), and Matt Mauck (1). None of them has a career record above .500, and Cassell the closest at 14-16.
Brown was the 2009 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, and his career completion percentage in two seasons at Troy was 63.4 with 37 TDs and 12 interceptions.
“He has a very good arm, he throws a tight spiral, he played in a wide-open offense so he had an opportunity to throw the ball a great deal, he has excellent size and enough mobility to be able to escape the rush and do a little bit on his own with his legs,” said coach Chan Gailey. “We had targeted him as a guy who was promising to us.”
Apparently, none of the other quarterbacks fit that bill. As for not grabbing any of the higher-rated quarterbacks, Nix said that when it was Buffalo’s turn to pick, he “Never batted an eye; just went right on. We did discuss one or two, but we just didn’t think it was best for us at this time.”
As personnel men always do at the end of a draft, Nix said he was thrilled with how things transpired.
After picking Clemson running back C.J. Spiller in the first round Thursday, and defensive linemen Torell Troup (Central Florida) and Alex Carrington (Arkansas State) in the second and third rounds Friday, the Bills made six selections Saturday.
They were UConn wide receiver Marcus Easley (fourth), Virginia Tech offensive tackle Ed Wang (fifth), linebackers/defensive ends Arthur Moats of James Madison and Danny Batten of South Dakota State (sixth), Brown, and Iowa offensive tackle Kyle Calloway (seventh).
Nix chose five players on offense, four on defense. Only four players competed in BCS conferences — Spiller and Wang (ACC), Easley (Big East) and Calloway (Big 10).
Three players — Carrington, Moats and Batten — played at the second-tier Football Championship Series (formerly Division 1-AA) level.
“You weigh in the competition, obviously, but we still don’t think much about what school they come from,” said Nix. “These guys have size, they can run, and they play hard, wherever they’re from.
“We think we made our football team better in a lot areas. It kind of fell right for us with where we were picking.”
The Bills began the third and final day of the selection process by taking Easley, an admitted late bloomer who didn’t start contributing to the UConn offense until his senior season.
Originally a walk-on who went to UConn on an academic scholarship and wasn’t going to play football, Easley caught 48 passes for 893 and 8 TDs in 2009.
“I always felt like I had the ability,” said Easley, who caught only five passes in his first two years.
“It was just the lack of opportunity and then we had a new offensive coordinator who implemented a new offense which was a lot more wide receiver friendly.”
Gailey said he loves Easley’s explosion and his run-after-catch ability.
Wang became the first Chinese-American to be drafted into the NFL, something he said “Means a lot to me; I’ve very proud of that.”
He’s a 6-foot-5, 314-pounder who will challenge Demetrius Bell at left tackle.
The other offensive lineman, Calloway, played tackle in college, but Gailey sees him more as a guard because he “works better in tight space.”
Both Moats and Batten were defensive linemen in college, but will transition to linebacker in Buffalo’s 3-4 defense, Moats on the inside, Batten outside.
“We got better, and nothing you guys write for tomorrow is going to mess it up,” Nix said with a laugh as he looked at the room full of reporters before him. q
MAIORANA@DemocratandChronicle.com
