Rex Ryan went from one messy quarterback situation to another. Ryan failed to get a good grasp on the quarterback spot with the New York Jets and is hoping for better luck with the Buffalo Bills. Ryan admits there are a lot of question marks regarding who will be the Bills' starting quarterback in 2015 and Ryan is open to any and all options going forward.
Buffalo originally drafted EJ Manuel to be the future of their franchise. The quarterback was an immediate starter in his rookie year, but failed to show any kind of progress thanks to inaccuracy and field vision. After 14 starts to his name, the Bills replaced him with Kyle Orton who really did not blow anyone away. That has left that starting quarterback spot "unresolved" in Ryan's eyes and he is determined to get the team moving in the right direction with it.
"Will we explore possible veteran free agents or draft picks out there? Absolutely," Ryan said, via NFL.com. "We're going to explore everything to add competition because that makes your whole team better."
New offensive coordinator Greg Roman will have his hands full with the position. The Bills remain hopeful that he can turn Manuel into a better pocket passer, something he failed to do with Colin Kaepernick. The Bills remain hopeful that Manuel's potential just has not been fully grasped yet and Ryan intends to do every bit of the evaluating to see if the team can find it.
"I think it's too early to tell right now," Ryan said, via FOX Sports. "We're still in the evaluating stages of looking at our quarterback situation. I thought of EJ a lot when he was coming out. We'll see first-hand when we get a chance to coach him. I'm excited about him though, I'll tell you that much. Will we explore possible veteran free agents or draft picks out there? Absolutely. We're going to explore everything to add competition because that makes your whole team better."
The Bills have plenty of options regarding moves that can be made. With Roman at coordinator, attempting to trade for Colin Kaepernick is the absolute long-shot, unlikely-to-ever-happen move there is. Jay Cutler could be a solid fit for the team while a deal for Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett or Kirk Cousins could be an option. Could Ryan and Mark Sanchez reunite in free agency? Ryan claims it is too early to tell.
"I don't know," Ryan said, via CBSSports.com. "First off, he's technically under contract with someone else right now so I won't talk about him specifically. But the numbers are what the numbers are with all the quarterbacks. Right now we're in the early stages, the evaluating stages of possible free agents, draft picks and the two guys that we already have on the roster, so that's really where we're at right now and too early to tell who's going to be here, who's not going to be here and really what our answers would be."
The chances are slim that the Bills trade up for a big name in the NFL Draft. They will likely retain Manuel while bringing in a veteran to help develop him.