Forget Barkley, Alex Smith would be a perfect fit for Buffalo.

[416BillsFan]

On 4/4/2020 at 11:26 PM, The Fiend said:

I am not sure if Alex Smith would accept a backup role.

He seems like a pretty self aware guy, I think he would IF he decides to keeps playing.

[Tipster19]

3 hours ago, DCofNC said:

I would take Bortles over Barkley and it’s not close.  The reason is simple, Bortles is basically Josh Allen, from last year.  Before you lose your mind and tell me I’m crazy, remember, he “led” a team farther into the playoffs, has had flashes of crazy success and potential and ultimately could come in and do ESSENTIALLY the same things Josh does.  He is a bust vs his draft position, no doubt.  That does not mean he couldn’t be a really good back up.  He held a starting role for a number of seasons.  He isn’t as accurate as you like, he doesn’t protect the ball as well as you would like, he doesn’t see the field as well as you would like and outside of Buffalo, everyone sees the same thing with Allen. 
 

the reason Bortles is a better option than Barkley, if Josh goes down, you bring in a player with similar skills to run the offense, not requiring a huge philosophical change like Barkley.  Barkley has a far weaker arm, is not mobile, is not going to threaten an RPO game, is not going to stretch the field.  Bortles can do all of those things.  No, you don’t want him as a franchise guy, but you are looking for a good backup.   He might go all Tannehill on you and surprise you if he wasn’t playing for Marrone too, so there’s that.  You know Barkley was a street FA in the middle of the year for a reason, he’s mediocre and flashed a couple of decent games in his entire career, never held a starting job and if he plays you expect to lose.  With Bortles, it’s like Allen in that, your scheme carries on and if he doesn’t get stupid, you have a good chance to win still.  Allen APPEARS to be on a better career trajectory, but we don’t know that yet.  He and Bortles were virtually clones at the end of 2 years, all I’m saying is, Bortles would make this team better than Barkley.

This makes a lot of sense. I know if Barkley starts I expect us to lose but if Bortles were to start then I dunno, it would have to come down to who we were playing. So if you look at it that way and feel the same way then yes the Bills would be better served having Bortles vs Barkley. Thanks for your input, excellent insight.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

On 4/5/2020 at 8:34 AM, SoCal Deek said:

This....but...they need to find out what happened with Barkley in his last appearance. He didn’t look ANYTHING like what many, including myself, had seen from him in his previous games with the Bills. He clearly sucked. I’m guessing there have been some long conversations between him and the coaching staff about their utter lack of preparation.

 

Are you talking about the Jets game, week 17?

 

[Formerly Allan in MD]

He still intends to play but undoubtedly won't pass a physical.  Until a few months ago he was still walking with a cane.  How a multi-millionaire can be that dumb is beyond me.