The Buffalo Bills signed AJ McCarron in free agency before trading up for Josh Allen in the NFL Draft, but both are set up to fail in 2018.
The Buffalo Bills made it clear last offseason that they were interested in making wholesale changes to their roster with the trades of Sammy Watkins and Ronald Darby. They continued to do so by trading away Tyrod Taylor and Cordy Glenn this offseason and trading for Kelvin Benjamin in the middle of the 2017 campaign.
With the departure of Taylor and given the abomination that was Nathan Peterman’s one start in 2017, it was clear that they would address quarterback this offseason. They did so by first signing free-agent quarterback AJ McCarron, formerly of the Cincinnati Bengals. Their plight continued in the NFL Draft as they traded up from the No. 12 pick — which they moved up to via the Glenn trade — to No. 7 to select the polarizing Josh Allen.
When you look at the trio of McCarron, Allen and Peterman, there are no certainties with any of them. McCarron threw just 86 passing attempts (regular season) with Cincinnati over four years, Peterman has just a five-interception half to his credit and Allen is a wild card with accuracy issues to go with a cannon of an arm.
Looking at a quarterback room comprised of unknown or not-ready commodities, the best plan of attack would obviously be to put those signal-callers in the best position to succeed in terms of the talent around them. In the case of the Bills, however, they have done the polar opposite of that.
Yes, Buffalo still has LeSean McCoy on the roster and, despite his age (30), he’s still regarded as one of the league’s better running backs. After that, however, things get ugly. At wide receiver, Benjamin flashed as a big-time player while with Carolina early in his career, but was ultimately traded because he wasn’t living up to being a No. 1 guy — yet that’s exactly what Buffalo will ask of him.
Behind the Panthers castoff is the likes of Andre Holmes, Zay Jones, Jeremy Kerley and a laundry list of unproven players. If that looks like a dumpster fire at the position to you, then you’re assessing the situation correctly. That’s very much in contention for the worst wide receiver room in the NFL. And having the inconsistent and injury-plagued Charles Clay at tight end doesn’t alleviate any pressure from that corps.
If that weren’t bad enough, the Bills offensive line is not in a particularly great place either. Trading Glenn means they’ll rely on second-year man Dion Dawkins at left tackle, and while he was okay as a rookie playing on the right side, he’s far from being a stalwart and an inspiration of confidence on the edge. Meanwhile, the “retirement” of and situation surrounding Richie Incognito ultimately leaves them without their best guard on the interior.
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It’s currently up in the air as to who the starter will be at quarterback for the Bills in 2018. Logic would say that Allen shouldn’t be as he needs plenty of time to further develop. But regardless if it does end up being Allen or if it’s McCarron or Peterman, the situation in Buffalo is clear — the starting quarterback will be behind the 8-ball from snap No. 1.