You may want to pump the brakes on the Michael Vick to Buffalo rumors. On Friday, Buffalo Bills GM Buddy Nix didn’t waste anytime discussing Buffalo’s offseason plan to upgrade their talent at the quarterback position through April’s NFL Draft (courtesy of NFL.com):
“Let me say this: I think there’s a time that in the era that you’re in and the development of your team, there’s a time when you can move up a round to take a quarterback,” Nix said on WGR-AM, via the Buffalo News. “And I think the time’s now for us.”
“I mean, if a guy’s there — I keep saying that, and there’ll be one out there — if the guy’s there, then I think we’ll target — as I’ve said before — drafting a good quarterback. We need a good, young quarterback, and we’re going to do our best to get him.”
Last time I checked, the calendar still says December. You usually don’t hear too many NFL general managers talking about what they think needs to happen for their team in the upcoming draft this far ahead of April unless they are fighting for their job. I think it’s safe to say that Nix is in that exact position in Buffalo.
Ryan Fitzpatrick has proven to be nothing more than an expensive band-aid. He still has not healed the gaping hole that Buffalo has had at quarterback since Doug Flutie and Rob Johnson led the team to its last playoff appearance in 1999. It’s great that Nix finally wants to spend a high draft pick on a young quarterback, but he may be too late.
Geno Smith and Matt Barkley figure to be the top ranked quarterback prospects in April’s draft, but the 2013 NFL Draft is not expected to have the same kind of talent at quarterback that the 2011 and 2012 classes did.
Even still, the fact that the Bills are already talking about moving up to draft a young quarterback could mean that there will be one less suitor for the 32 year-old Michael Vick if he hits the market as a free agent.