The Bills have EJ Manuel and Jeff Tuel on their roster at the quarterback position, but GM Doug Whaley has stated more than once that another one or two signal callers will be added this offseason as competition. Could one come from the pool of Senior Bowl talent in Mobile?
Appearing in an interview on the John Murphy Show on location this week in Mobile, Director of Player Personnel Jim Monos was straightforward in describing the personnel department's approach to coming up with a definitive answer for the quarterback position.
"It all starts at quarterback to build a roster and then the draft is always the most important thing to me," said Monos. "It's challenging. We're not going to back down. We're going to meet this challenge head on. We're going to bring guys in to compete with EJ (Manuel) and Jeff Tuel and see what happens."
In the next breath he maintained that Manuel remains very much a part of the team's future.
"There's no way you can write EJ Manuel off yet," Monos said. "He has the chance to compete for the starting job just like he has before. Hopefully he's learned some things. We have a new staff now and hopefully they click. You never know."
Bills GM Doug Whaley, who also appeared on the John Murphy Show, said the talent at the Senior Bowl will be considered as a part of the quarterback equation.
"It's great because it gives us up close and personal knowledge of these guys. We'll see them in about six practices and see them in a game, and (quarterbacks) coach (David) Lee and myself and the scouts will sit down and talk to them and get in that brain and see what motivates them," said Whaley. "One of the best questions is how do you see yourself? Self-examination is a very unique tool that we use and it's very important."
At the same time Whaley reiterated that they will canvas all avenues of acquiring talent to see what the best course of action will be to address the quarterback position.
"We're going to explore every option," said Whaley. "We're going to look at unrestricted free agents and the trade possibilities out there and obviously the draft. If you look at sheer numbers we're going to have to add at least two more just to get through camp with only two on the roster right now."
"We're going to keep looking. It could be here," said Monos in reference to the Senior Bowl. "We haven't had those meetings with our scouts yet. That's what we'll have coming up in February. It's going to be here, free agency, wherever the best guy is to help us win."
