Andrew Ortenberg
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A lot of teams have less than ideal quarterback situations in the NFL, but perhaps no team is worse off than the Bills as they have an official Buffalo Bills QB Problem. The Bills have already started three different quarterbacks just seven weeks into the season, and none of them have been at all effective. Nathan Peterman and journeyman Derek Anderson have both started games for this Bills team, both with disastrous results. In between has been rookie seventh overall pick Josh Allen, who’s currently dealing with a serious elbow injury. Allen has shown flashes of promise, but has been pretty bad overall and a timetable for his return is unclear.
So what are the Bills’ options, and how can they fix their quarterback situation? There’s no easy fix, but there are a few options, including free agency, the draft, and standing pat. Today, we’ll be taking a look at all three and determining which is the best path for Buffalo to take moving forward.
There aren’t many options available in free agency, as evidenced by the Bills’ decision to sign Anderson a couple weeks ago. It’s hard to argue that any veteran journeyman would be a better option at this point, and the Bills aren’t in the position to be trading draft capital for a placeholder quarterback.
They can always draft a quarterback in next April’s draft, but it would be pretty tough to justify doing so early on. The front office just made a massive investment in Allen, trading up for him, and would face a ton of questions if they were to draft another signal caller.
They can’t really turn back to Peterman, as the coaching staff would face a massive backlash from fans and within the locker room. After Peterman bombed against the Texans, it was widely reported that coach Sean McDermott was in danger of losing the locker room if he didn’t turn to Anderson. Anderson predictably struggled in his first start against the Colts, completing 20 of 31 passes for 175 yards and three interceptions. In his mosts recent start against the Patriots, he completed 22 of 29 passes for 290 passing yards and one interception which led to six points.
The Bills have by far the worst situation under center in the league, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to get better anytime soon. Even when Allen returns from injury, he’ll likely be playing at less than 100 percent and with very few weapons. Bills fans will likely have to suffer through at least another couple of starts from Anderson, and a lot of struggles from Allen after that.
In short, it can’t really be fixed anytime soon. This current regime in Buffalo isn’t going to embarrass itself by admitting defeat on Allen and drafting another quarterback which means that for better or worse, the Bills are riding with Allen for the foreseeable future. And even then, that’s only when he returns from his mysterious elbow injury which still hasn’t been fully clarified.
