The Buffalo Bills just recommitted to quarterback Tyrod Taylor (for at least another year), so it’s more than a bit interesting they’re hosting top quarterbacks this spring leading up to the 2017 NFL Draft.
Owner Terry Pegula and rookie head coach Sean McDermott were in North Carolina for a visit with Mitch Trubisky — considered by most as the top quarterback prospect in the draft.
.@TarHeelFootball @buffalobills Great to have Coach Sean McDermott and Owner Terry Pegula in Chapel Hill today. First class people. pic.twitter.com/FnRw59ffFu
— Gunter Brewer (@GunterBrewer) April 9, 2017
It’s also been reported that the team has worked out Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer (via USA Today) and Texas Tech’s Patrick Mahomes (via the Houston Chronicle).
Obviously, the Bills are more than just doing their due diligence here — they are seriously considering a top quarterback in Round 1 (they own the No. 10 overall pick) or at least early in the draft.
Yet McDermott would have us believe that these visits could be just a “smokescreen.”
“We’ll take a look at those [quarterbacks], but it doesn’t mean we’re taking a quarterback,” McDermott told Kiss 98.5 in Buffalo on Wednesday (h/t Mike Rodak of ESPN). “Maybe these last three or four trips were just kind of all a smokescreen, right? It’s kind of like hiding your presents from your kids. You kind of put them in different spots and see, right? We’ll just see. It’s just a big mystery at this point. No one really knows. You never know who’s going to be there at No. 10 when we pick. You just got to go do the homework and study it up.”
To be fair to McDermott, the last thing he said is salient. Sometimes players just fall into your lap, and you cannot help but make the selection, even if the need isn’t particularly great.
That said, we cannot buy the notion that Buffalo is totally sold on Taylor as the quarterback of the future. Far from it! There’s a reason the dual-threat passer had to take a significant discount in order to stay on board in Buffalo. If the team were sold on his ability to lead the offense into the future and win playoff games, then there would have been no reason to force the pay cut.
The Bills aren’t using up their precious top-30 visits on quarterbacks as a smokescreen. They are legitimately interested in improving their talent at the quarterback position, and nobody should be surprised if they do end up using their first-round pick to land one of this year’s top passers.