The set-up: It was the 2004 NFL Draft and it was a foregone conclusion that the Bills wanted to add a QB to the roster. Drew Bledsoe had regressed in 2003, going from 26 touchdowns to just 11. The Bills finished 6-10 and had a new coach in place with Mike Mularkey. In what some fans/media members thought was an act of desperation, the Bills decided to trade back into the first round and select JP Losman. I remember when the Bills selected him, the ESPN panel was split about #7. Merril Hoge despised the pick, and thought that Losman didn’t have pocket presence and was too cocky for his own good. Sean Salisbury on the other hand, thought Losman would be a star. Obviously, you couldn’t go against a guy who was so confidant in his abilities, that he decided to take pictures of his penis to show to ESPN employees.
What happened: Following the 2004 season, the Bills decided to cut Drew Bledose and turned over the keys to the franchise to Losman. As a rookie, Losman only played in mop-up duty. His highlight was probably the ugliest interception that you will ever see against the Patriots. So, here comes your 2nd year QB starting for the Bills. Well, lets just say it didn’t work out. During Losman’s first year, he started 8 games, threw for 8 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. Crazy 8’s, I guess.
Anyways, the stats didn’t tell the whole story. What was the most annoying aspect of the situation was how the Bills benched Losman twice during the season. After a 1-3 start, there were a lot of rumblings that some of the Bills players weren’t happy about Losman’s play (See: Eric Moulds). Mike Mularkey decided to bench #7 for the immortal Kelly Holcomb. The move made absolutely no sense. The Bills were a mess. The defense played like complete crap without Takeo Spikes and the offensive line was a tire fire. You don’t bench your QB who was drafted in the 1st round, especially on a team that is lousy. It’s called sink or swim with your young QB. Once you give him the job, there is no turning back. The Bills turned back after just 4 starts. Then, a injury to Holcomb put Losman back into the line-up. However, that didn’t last long, as the Bills benched him again after a uninspiring performance against the Pats three weeks later.
Fast forward to the following year, the Bills had a new coach and GM in Dick Jauron and Marv Levy. The guys who didn’t have anything to do with picking Losman were now making him compete for the job against Holcomb. Now, because Holcomb sucked and it didn’t make any sense to start him, Losman beat him out in training camp. For the season, Losman played alright. He passed for 19 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Now, those aren’t amazing numbers, but for a guy who started only 24 games, it wasn’t bad either.
Then week 3 of the 2007 season came. At the time, Losman was struggling, passing for just 251 yards and no touchdowns during his first 2 games. The Bills were also 0-2, which didn’t help matters. The Bills were visiting Foxboro and on the first drive of the game, Vincent Wilfork dove -forearm first- into JP’s leg. Losman suffered a grade one sprain of his ankle. Losman would be out between 2-4 weeks.
Enter: Trent Edwards.
The rookie QB played well, as he completed 78%, 74% and 66% of his passes during his first three starts. Right then and there, JP was finished. Yes, Dick Jauron did give Losman his job back after Edwards sprained his elbow against the Jets, but everyone knew that Losman was on a very short leash. In Losman’s first game back from injury, he played well against the Bengals, as he passed for almost 300 yards, in a Bills victory. However, the following three games, Losman struggled: Throwing for 157, 173 and 211 yards. The Bills went 1-2 and Losman’s last stand was against the Jags. The Bills got smoked 36-14. Jauron made the move and gave Trent Edwards back his job. So, in 31 career starts for the Bills, a former 1st round QB was benched 4 times.
What if the Bills liked JP Losman? Look, I think JP Losman is a terrible QB. However, to this day, I never really thought he got a fair shake at keeping the Bills job. I mean, he was benched FOUR times in three seasons! QBs who are drafted in the first round don’t have that happen to them. Now, there are a lot of rumors out there about why Losman was taken in/out of the line-up. There’s the rumor that Ralph Wilson didn’t want Losman to achieve player incentives during the 2007 season, which is pretty fricken terrible if you ask me. Plus, you always hear how whenever a new regime takes over a franchise, they are always going to want their own players. Jauron and Levy were definitely more partial towards Edwards than Losman, because they picked him. Now, do I blame them for benching Losman? Not really, because when Edwards started, he looked great as a rookie. However, Losman deserved more time.
Now, would Losman had been a better player if he didn’t get yanked out of the line-up so many times? Probably. Would he have played better if he didn’t have 3 offensive coordinators during his first five seasons with the Bills? Probably. You also have to think that benching Losman, really affected Lee Evans play. We all know that Evans played great under Evans, as he caught 82 passes for over 1,200 yards in 2006. He also had that 3 touchdown performance against Miami in 2005 with JP at the helm. The duo combined for 16 touchdowns in 34 games. Since the duo broke up, Evans hasn’t come close to being the same. He has just 14 touchdowns in his last three seasons and only one 100-yard receiving performance in his last 33 games. I assure, Lee misses JP like Tyler Myers misses Hank.
Now because Losman got hurt, it started the stupid Trent Edwards era. Who knows if Edwards would have gotten a shot if Losman stayed healthy and didn’t blow coaches away with his rookie season. Maybe, the Bills could have made Edwards into their version of Matt Schaub. Hey, have Trent show off his talents for one game and then trade him for a 1st round pick. Think about it. Kevin Kolb is being talked about for getting a 1st round pick and he’s only started like 8 NFL games. Maybe they could have done that with Edwards, who showed a lot during his first 10 starts of his career.
Now, would JP have been a pro bowler if the team stuck with him? Probably not. However, I think Losman did get screwed with his playing time. When you look back at how Trent Edwards turned out, you can’t help but wonder if the Bills should have just gave JP another year or two as the starter. Either way..the saga for the franchise QB for the Bills still continues.
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