Buffalo Bills could pick Cam Newton in the 2011 NFL draft
Only the Carolina Panthers lost more games than the Buffalo Bills in the 2010-11 season. Obviously they have a whole lot of work to do in the off-season and have to pick intelligently in the draft. They need players on virtually every position and they don’t
have nearly enough draft picks.
Their defence is an unmitigated mess. While they were able to stop passes reasonably well and were ranked third in the National Football League (NFL), their statistics against the run were just unforgivable. They allowed almost 170 rushing yards per game
last season which ranks 32nd in the league. They need men on the line in both offence and defence.
The idea then that the Bills might choose a quarterback with their highest draft pick seems a bit farfetched. It could happen though, if the Bills are able to draft Auburn University quarterback Cam Newton.
In Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Bills have a reasonable quarterback. He scored 23 touchdowns for 15 interceptions last year. He also passed for 3,000 yards and had a passer rating of a respectable 81.8. Whatever was wrong with the Bills, just cannot all be attributed
to the quarterback. Why then would the Bills spend their highest pick on Newton, a quarterback?
Star power for one. A rookie quarterback, no matter how good he is, won’t take the Bills to the American Football Conference (AFC) Championship game or beyond all by himself. The Buffalo Bills will likely stay near the bottom of the NFL standings for a few
years before their rebuilding concludes and they start to win. Drafting Newton would be a part of that process but it would also serve a more immediate purpose this season.
The Bills lack star power. Newton is one of the most well known prospects of the year and his addition to the team will be an incentive for fans to come back to the games even though the Bills won’t be winning. He has won the Heisman trophy and a BCS National
Championship, and in his one year as the starter at Auburn, he has established himself as a football star.
That doesn’t mean that Newton’s presence on the field will have no more effect than boosting star power. He is talented and Bills general manager, Buddy Nix thinks highly of him. While Fitzpatrick is on the field, the Bills don’t have much of a quarterback
problem but with Newton, their 28th ranked passing could improve significantly. On their best days, Newton is arguably a better quarterback than Fitzpatrick.
A move from college football to the professional leagues has proved to be a challenge for a number of highly talented quarterbacks. It will be up to the Bills Head Coach Chan Gailey to get Newton to perform at his best in the NFL. He did an excellent job
with Fitzpatrick despite the serious short comings in the offensive line. Gailey kept tweaking the offensive line until it held up well enough to let Fitzpatrick produce.
As recently as 2007, Gailey was coaching college football. He spent five years with Georgia Tech before he made a return to the NFL. Gailey is intimately familiar with both college and professional football and he might very well be the best option for Newton.
Whether it is a quarterback or a defensive lineman, the third overall draft pick is going to cost a fortune. The Bills have to seriously consider the returns of investing huge amounts in a defensive player. A high first round pick will require the Bills
to put up a lot of money guaranteed. Investing that sum in a quarterback might be the smart thing to do.
Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in the article are the writer’s personal views and do not necessarily reflect bettor.com’s editorial policy.
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