The Buffalo Bills are welcoming Cam Newton to town today for a visit. And they’re simultaneously downplaying their interest in him.
Bills G.M. Buddy Nix said that if the Bills identify Newton as a franchise player who would be the face of their organization for a decade, they’d take him. But Nix said quarterback isn’t the Bills’ top priority.
“Now our greatest need is not quarterback,” Nix said Monday. “It’s definitely not quarterback.”
Bills coach Chan Gailey agreed, saying that the only way he wants a quarterback third overall is if he thinks it’s a quarterback who will start in Buffalo for as long as Gailey is the coach.
“I think what you’re trying to evaluate is if there is a guy at quarterback that you believe can be a franchise quarterback long term,” Gailey said. “You hope to never be picking three again and it’s your one opportunity to make that pick if that’s what you believe. If you don’t believe there’s a franchise quarterback for the future long term, we have other needs. It’s not like we don’t know we have other needs.”
Of course, the Bills’ interest in Newton could be moot, because the Panthers might take Newton first overall. And then there’s the possibility that anything Nix and Gailey say about Newton is a lie.
“There’s an unwritten rule that it’s not a sin to tell a lie during pre-draft stuff,” Nix said. “Everybody does it, it’s accepted, so everything you read or hear or see, you need to keep in mind that about 10 percent of it is the truth.”
