Advertisement

Desperate Buffalo Bills trade for quarterback Matt Cassel

One of the thousands of questions surrounding the Buffalo Bills' trade for running back LeSean McCoy on Tuesday: How does this help their quarterback situation?

A day later, the Bills agreed to terms to trade for veteran Minnesota Vikings quarterback Matt Cassel. The deal will send two undisclosed draft picks to Minnesota, and Cassel and an undisclosed pick to Buffalo.

QUARTERBACK PROBLEM SOLVED!

Maybe not. Cassel will turn 33 before next season and hasn't played well for four years. Since he had a nice 2010 for the Kansas City Chiefs, Cassel has posted ratings of 76.6, 66.7, 81.6 and 65.8. Still, the free-agent market for quarterbacks is incredibly thin, the Bills don't have a first-round pick this year after trading up to draft Sammy Watkins last year, and they obviously are wary about EJ Manuel's chances of becoming a franchise quarterback.

The Bills are probably hoping to take the approach of loading up a great supporting cast and letting the quarterback be a game manager. They have a former All-Pro in McCoy to run the ball, Watkins should develop into a nice playmaker when whoever plays quarterback can get him the ball, and the defense with a lot of talent and new coach Rex Ryan around to run it should be nasty.

Unless Manuel takes a huge step forward and wins the starting job, is Cassel good enough to get the Bills to the playoffs for the first time this century? Maybe. But really, the Bills didn't have any great Plan B option.

- - - - - - -

Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!