Campbell in Buffalo?
4/05/2010 | Posted by
Devin
When I saw the ESPN ticker go across the bottom of my screen with the news that Donovan McNabb had been traded to Washington, my first thought was "Wow!" My second thought was, "Here come the rumors of a Jason Campbell trade."
It didn't take long.
ESPN 980 in Washington has already thrown out the rumor that Buffalo, Carolina, Oakland, Jacksonville, and another unknown team have interest in Campbell. This shouldn't come as a shock to any fan of this team. The Bills have been actively looking for another QB to join the team and most likely compete for the starting job this summer in training camp. In fact, McNabb was one of those possible choices, but it wasn't meant to be.
Campbell is currently a restricted free agent and has a first round tender attached to him; however nobody is going to sign him to an offer sheet with that steep of a price attached. Now that Washington has McNabb on the roster, they are most likely going to trade Campbell away for maybe a fourth or fifth round draft pick.
So would Campbell be a good fit in Buffalo?
I'm not against it. I'm not selling it either, but I think they could do a lot worse. Hear me out.
Let's say hypothetically that the Bills give up a fourth round draft choice for Campbell. Not a bad deal if you ask me. What other QB could they draft in the fourth round or later that would be just as good or better than Campbell? Unless they pull a New England and fall ass backwards into drafting Tom Brady in the late rounds, I doubt it happens. In conjunction with a trade for Campbell, this move would allow the Bills to focus on the offensive or defensive line with the ninth overall pick, instead of hoping and praying that Jimmy Clausen develops into a franchise QB. In four seasons with Washington, Campbell threw for a total of 10,860 yards, 55 touchdowns, 38 interceptions, and has an 82.3 QB rating over that time. I would also like to point out that he played in all 16 games for the past two seasons, something that is rather impressive considering the fact that Derrick Dockery and Mike Williams were two of the players protecting him last season. Not to make excuses for Campbell, but he was also being forced to learn a brand new offense in almost every offseason instead of improving on his current one.
I think I've pounded home the fact that the Bills are over 50+ games without having a QB throw for over 300 yards in one game. Well, Campbell did it twice last season.
I've seen quite a few fans say how bad Campbell is and what an awful move it would be for the Bills.
Really?
Last time I checked, the current favorite to win the starting job is still Trent Edwards. Edwards has yet to finish one full season in the NFL. Edwards has amassed 5,498 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 25 interceptions over the span of his career. Not to defend Edwards, but I suppose it is rather difficult to rack up a lot of passing yards when you dump it off to the running back on EVERY SINGLE PASSING PLAY.
So again, how is Campbell a worse option?
I know it sounds like I'm selling Campbell, something I said I wouldn't do earlier in this post, but he is absolutely a better option than is currently on this roster.
The reason I can't totally sell Campbell is that they might have a better QB waiting in the draft. Just because I don't like Jimmy Clausen doesn't guarantee that he isn't the right choice. Who knows, he might be the next Phillip Rivers or Drew Brees. I could live with that.
All I'm saying is that Campbell has a very small price tag attached to him right now and this move would allow Buffalo to improve at other positions that are equally as important. If the Bills are 100% sold on Clausen or even (gulp) Tim Tebow, then fine, draft that guy. But if they have their doubts about either one (or any others for that matter), Campbell would be worth a shot.
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