Bills General Manager Brandon Beane pushed back his news conference Thursday. Beane confirmed he was finalizing a one-year deal with quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and wanted a chance to call Matt Barkley to thank him and wish him well before meeting with the media.
Barkley spent the past three seasons in Buffalo as Josh Allen’s backup. Trubisky now takes over that role.
The Bears drafted Trubisky as the second overall choice in 2017 to be their franchise quarterback. It didn’t work out, so Trubisky now gets a chance to start over.
“We don’t expect him to be here long term,” Beane said. “This is a kind of a one-year (deal), probably (was) not in his plans when he was drafted where he was. But we hope it’s a great reset for him.”
Beane pointed to Trubisky’s draft pedigree and his starting experience. Trubisky, 26, started 50 regular-season games for the Bears in four seasons and added another two starts in the postseason. He made the Pro Bowl in 2018.
The Bills hope Trubisky never sees the field, but if he does, Beane said “athletically [Trubisky] can do a lot of things Josh can do,” so the Bills wouldn’t have to change their offense.
“We were a game away from the Super Bowl and injures happen, and this guy has won 29 games, 50 starts,” Beane said, explaining why the Bills signed Trubisky. “He’s got a good resume even though he’s a younger player. We know how Josh plays. Josh is not scared to try and lower his pads or take a hit and if Josh was out a few games or something like that, we want to make sure we have the best player we can. It’s like any other position for depth. Whether it’s a backup tackle, a backup defensive lineman, whatever, you’ve got your starters, and you’ve got your depth players. We just think Mitchell will come in here and is excited to join in the mix, assuming he’s the backup or whatever, if Josh goes down, with his experience he would be able to keep the ship afloat until Josh got back in the lineup.”