When the Buffalo Bills handed out that huge contract to Ryan Fitzpatrick last October, general manager Buddy Nix proclaimed the Harvard product would be the team's quarterback "for a long time."
Fitzpatrick has become something of an enigma since signing the dotted line. In a radio interview Friday, Nix explained his hope to add a franchise quarterback sooner rather than later.
"Listen, we have said from Day 1, that we want to draft a good young quarterback," Nix told WGR-AM in Buffalo. "I don't want to leave here without a franchise guy for the future in place. I have not said that before, but I'm saying it now because it's a fact."
Fitzpatrick will turn 30 later this month, so Nix's statement isn't necessarily an indictment of his confidence in his current quarterback. But it is safe to speculate the Bills aren't sold on Fitzpatrick being behind center for the duration of his seven-year deal. It might not even be close.
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The Bills have drafted one quarterback in Nix's three drafts as the GM, and that was 2010 seventh-rounder Levi Brown. Nix explained that he resisted moving up in the past two drafts because the Bills couldn't sacrifice the draft picks necessary to move up.
"We had so many needs that we would have had to give up what Washington gave up to get there and the same with Carolina, that got there by losing," Nix said. "So it's a deal here where that has to fall into place for us and hopefully it will."
Fitzpatrick has made some plays this season, but his inconsistency is an ongoing issue in Buffalo. It sure sounds like Nix could get aggressive to get a name-brand prospect in house next April. If Fitzpatrick needed any more motivation, there you have it.
Follow Dan Hanzus on Twitter @danhanzus.
