Ryan Fitzpatrick had quite the 2010 season with the Buffalo Bills.
When the Bills signed him as a free agent the season before from Cincinnati, he already, probably somewhat unfairly, had the “career backup” label.
After losing what Chan Gailey claimed was an “open” quarterback competition to the incumbent Trent Edwards in the summer, he again found himself on the bench.
Following two abysmal performances from Edwards, Fitzpatrick was suddenly thrown to the fore-front and was named the starter upon Edwards release.
After that, Fitzpatrick put together a statistical season that Bills fans haven’t seen from their quarterback in a long time.
He tossed a touchdown in 15-straight games, a streak that began last season. He finished the year with exactly 3,000 yards and threw 23 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.
Fitzpatrick hardly had a Pro Bowl-caliber campaign, but he certainly infused excitement into an offense that had been completely spiritless over the last four seasons.
Through it all, the Bills only mustered four wins and the common Buffalo naysayer believes the team must address the quarterback position in the draft simply because Fitzpatrick isn’t good enough to lead a playoff team.
We’re far from knowing if he can orchestrate a playoff-bound offense because the rest of the Bills roster is lacking a fair amount of talent, but here is why the Bills will move forward with Ryan Fitzpatrick as their quarterback and not take a high-profile guy in the early rounds of the 2011 NFL Draft.
1. Fitzpatrick is cheap
To eclipse 3,000 yards and 20 touchdowns is saying something, and usually signal callers who do so demand and usually get a huge contract. He’s in line to make a pedestrian 2.8 million next year, which is extremely low compared to the majority of comprable quarterbacks in the NFL.
I won’t call him cheap, but I doubt Ralph Wilson is ready to lay down some monster deal to a young and unproven quarterback. The new CBA could change all this, but no matter what, the Bills are getting a great bang for their buck with Fitzpatrick, although I do expect them to sign him to a more lucrative extension this year.
2. Chan Gailey loves the guy
This goes a long way. Gailey constantly praised Fitzpatrick’s courage and grit throughout the season, once saying that he’s like a Harvard guy watching film and an Ohio State guy on the field. (let’s call that a bit of stretch)
3. The Bills aren’t in line to get a top college QB.
If the Panthers / Broncos passed on him or if the Bills were picking first, I wouldn’t be writing this article, because Buffalo would sprint up to the podium with their selection of Andrew Luck.
Unfortunately for the Bills, I see no way Luck falls to them and an Eli Manning-Phillip Rivers trade is unconceivable in my mind, with all the holes on the Bills defense.
Cam Newton is not worth the No. 3 overall pick, he’s not polished enough. Ryan Mallet has a cannon, but again, is not worth the No. 3 pick. Blaine Gabbert is the wild card, but I really don’t think the Bills have him on their radar.
They’d love to grab Jake Locker in the second round, a quarterback who’s draft stock has plummeted, but it’d be shocking if he fell out of the first, and we all know the Bills history with moving back into the first round to grab a quarterback.
If they can’t get one of the top four or five guys, then that’ll be it. There’s no point picking another late-round project like Levi Brown.
4. Possible growth this offeseason
This referes to reason No. 2. Gailey and Fitzpatrick developed a nice rapport in the last 14 games of the year, even after Fitzpatrick took basically all the snaps with the second team throughout training camp and the preseason.
There’s a general thought (mostly by optimists like me) that with an entire offseason of planning, OTA’s, training camp, and the preseason working with the first team Fitzpatrick could prove himself to be an even better quarterback than what we saw this season.
You have to think Gailey is primed to expand and tweak his offensive gameplan especially with the comfort level he and Fitzpatrick share.
He’s not the next Tom Brady, but Bills fans, Ryan Fitzpatrick will be Buffalo’s starting quarterback in the season opener in 2011, and he should be.
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