Former Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen, whom the Bills selected with the No. 7 overall pick in this year’s draft, is believed by many to have the highest upside of any rookie QB in the 2018 class. However, he is also considered quite raw, and given that Buffalo acquired A.J. McCarron — who does not have much NFL game experience, but who has at least been in the league for a few years — this offseason, the general belief is that Allen will be McCarron’s backup before he gets a chance to establish himself.
But Buffalo GM Brandon Beane is not willing to relegate Allen to the No. 2 job just yet. Beane said (via Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk, citing NewYorkUpstate.com), “We’re not going to rush him, but you know if he somehow wins the job, he wins it…There will be 52 other players out there and if they see that he’s clearly the best, I don’t think we could [not start him]. We wouldn’t do that at any other position, so we’ll let it go. But he’s got a lot of catching up to do, that’s the thing.”
Now for more AFC East items, starting with another note out of Buffalo:
- The Bills could use another quality wideout behind starters Kelvin Benjamin and Zay Jones. They added two receivers with their last two picks of the draft (Ray-Ray McCloud with the No. 187 pick and Austin Proehl with the No. 255 pick), but neither player figures to make an immediate impact. However, the team is not interested in free agent Dez Bryant. Beane said, per Chris Brown of BuffaloBills.com, “We have looked at Dez on tape, but I wouldn’t take it any further and I don’t know where that would go. We’re looking to get better at all positions and receiver is one, so if we thought that was the right fit for us we would potentially pursue it.”
- The Jets currently have five QBs on the roster, and teams have been in contact with Gang Green about the possibility of trading for one of those five signal-callers, Bryce Petty. Per Calvin Watkins of Newsday.com (via Twitter), GM Mike Maccagnan essentially confirmed as much, and while he did not mention any names, he sounded hopeful that he could find trading partners for all of his QB surplus (which also includes Christian Hackenberg). When asked if he will need to cut a quarterback, Maccagnan said, “We’ll see how that unfolds going forward. There’s always conversations you have with teams and we’ll see how that unfolds in [a] little bit of time.”
- There are plenty of mixed feelings on the Patriots‘ 2018 draft class, but as Mike Reiss of ESPN.com observes, the team has a bevy of early picks in the 2019 draft (six selections in the first three rounds). While some have wondered why New England did not draft a signal-caller who could be the heir apparent to Tom Brady, Reiss says the Pats were very aggressive in scouting this year’s crop of QBs but ultimately felt the starting-caliber options did not fall far enough to pursue and did not want to overdraft a backup-type. Reiss, though, believes New England could use their 2019 draft haul to land its QB of the future.
They didn’t draft a QB cause Brady would have been butt hurt
Nope, just would have continued to be a 5 time Super Bowl Champ with a beautiful wife and Family!
Who on earth is going to trade for Petty? He’s going to get cut anyways. He’s a CFL backup at best
I bet… The Patriots will sign any QB the Jets release
The Dolphins didn’t address their QB need in the draft so they will have their radar up to see who around the league becomes available.
Am I the only one that noticed that they did draft a quarterback out of LSU? Come on Rory !!
Nah, you’re not the only one. Guess this writer didn’t fact check?
Or… you guys have the reading comprehension skills of a stump? Yeah, that’s it
What’s a stump
You, apparently
So when does Dez sue the NFL because nobody wants a malcontent.
hackenberg to the pats
If Hackenberg were to be traded, it would not be within the division to NE. Besides, what do you suggest the Patriots should offer for a QB who has never played in a regular season game? The only team I could see trading for Hackenberg would be Houston because of the Bill O’Brien connection, and there is a slim-to-none chance of that happening.
Cut Petty. Keep Hakenberg and maybe hope he can become a future backup
Thats kind of my idea. Hackenberg can not be worse than Petty. Shame no one is going to see him play ever
A successful draft is one where you address as many positional needs as possible and I think New England did alright in that regard.
Curious what the Bills told McCarron when they signed him. If he was going to be the leader or that there will be a short leash because the Bills were gunning for a first round QB.
Personally, I have my doubts that McCarron knew he’d have serious competition. If I were him, I wouldn’t have signed with a team unless they were fully committed to me for at least a year. And draft players to better suit me, not to draft another QB.