Rumor has it; the Buffalo Bills are looking to draft another quarterback. Meanwhile two current quarterbacks on the Bills roster participated in the Voluntary Veteran Mini Camp this week. Each is competing for that starting slot. Both newcomer Kevin Kolb and Tarvaris Jackson were working out Wednesday focusing on both game and physical condition.
Kevin Kolb, who in March signed a two year contract to play QB with the Bills, said he is learning his geography. “Everything is different. I still have to look at Google maps in order to get to work (jokingly). There is a sense of comfortability, too, with this place. I have to admit that. Just the people with this organization. Let’s just win some games and hang around for a little while.”
Kolb processed everything around him during the first 48 hours of voluntary veteran mini-camp. “It is good. It really is. I think that the new system in all three phases, a lot of new players—I think practices have gone fairly smooth for our situation. Obviously a lot to build on, a lot to correct, but it is all making sense for everybody and everybody is catching it phase-by-phase.”
This year Quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, with one year under his belt with the Bills re-signed a 1yr contract. This deal guarantees him an opportunity to compete against Kolb for a starting job in the upcoming season.
Now that there is a quarterback competition on the team, Johnson feels the pressure. “Oh yeah, definitely. Being here last year, I was brought in and did not really do much. But it is back to way things have been my whole career-just competing and having fun.”
Being that his roots are West Coast oriented, Jackson is still getting used to the changing to the Bills system. “It was big. A lot of the concepts are still the same. Terminology is a little bit different. Some of it is still the same, too. But just coming in and when I first got in Coach Gailey said, “I know you ran the West Coast back in the day. This is called the East Coast.” It was a lot different. Did not really have a lot of time, like right now I have time to study and I have time to get a grasp of this stuff and practice it. Last year we were game planning and there was not a lot of time to get one-on-one time. It was just come out here, try to learn as much as possible and do scout team.”
Noting that there has been a lot of talk about the Bills looking to add a quarterback, Wide Receiver Stevie Johnson is looking forward to the Draft. “Yeah, I think it is exciting. Just me being a fan of the game with the Draft coming up, I think it is exciting. Just knowing that we will have new players added to our team that are going to help us out with getting these W’s. I just feel like it is a bunch of excitement. As far as quarterbacks go, I am happy with the guys that we have now. If we add another quarterback, more power to the Buffalo Bills. It is just excitement when you start talking NFL Draft.”
The Bills Voluntary Veteran Mini-Camp had many players prepping for the upcoming season. The final mini camp session with be held today, Thurs April 18. Speculation on the Bill’s draft intensions however, will have to wait just a little bit longer to be answered.
