The Buffalo Bills select... Ryan Nassib?
That's the rumor buzzing around. With the signing of Syracuse's Doug Marrone as Head Coach and Nathaniel Hackett as Offensive Coordinator, it's not too surprising that this rumor is around. Marrone wants to bring the Syracuse style of offense to Buffalo. What better QB could there possibly be to run it that Ryan Nassib? The guy was a starter in that Syracuse offense for 3 years. He can possibly be a starter right away, which sounds good to most Bills fans. Most of the fans are pretty tired of seeing Ryan Fitzpatrick "lead" the offense.
Can Nassib be a good NFL Quarterback? That's really the question on everyone's mind. Nassib's stock has been rising. If he plays well in the Senior Bowl, there's a good chance the Bills will have to use their first round pick on him if they really want to draft him. If you are going to pick a QB early in the first round... Well, he had better be ready to start and play quality football.
So can Nassib be that guy? I say yes. Don't get me wrong here... Picking Nassib in the first round would be a HUGE risk. While he was somewhat successful at Syracuse, their schedule wasn't incredibly difficult. I took a look at some highlights of Nassib this year. You can watch the highlights I saw with these 3 videos.
Those 3 games are 3 of the better opponents Syracuse played this year. Nassib was moderately successful against them. Here's my 1 big criticism. He has "happy feet". He often looks like a Mexican Jumping Bean in the pocket. Yes, you have to keep your feet moving in the pocket. You don't want a defender catching you flat-footed... But Nassib goes a little too far at times. When he does this, he struggles to set his feet for a throw. With almost every one of his errant passes, he had happy feet and failed to set his feet properly.
If he can fix this, he has a lot of potential. When his feet are set properly, he is reasonably accurate. He's great from close range and shows some finesse downfield. That's something that Ryan Fitzpatrick can't say. Speaking of Fitzpatrick, do you want to know why I like Nassib? Throwing power. Nassib has a VERY strong arm. No more dying ducks on fade patterns! Fitzpatrick does beat Nassib in one area: movement. Nassib doesn't have great movement. He lacks speed when running. He's not terrible... He moves better than Peyton Manning at least... And that guy seems like a decent Quarterback. Is Nassib the next Peyton? No. But he's better than Fitzpatrick, so I say he's worth taking a chance on. Even if it takes a first round pick to get him.
