Could Mitchell Trubisky be the next Ryan Tannehill?
The plan for Mitchell Trubisky with the Buffalo Bills is simple.
Play behind Josh Allen for a year and… try again next offseason.
After four years with the Chicago Bears who drafted him No. 2 overall in 2017, Trubisky was not re-signed.
The Bills then added him to a one-year deal this offseason.
Upon doing so, Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane said the plan was for Trubisky to be in Orchard Park for the short term. The GM believes in due time, he’ll get another chance to start somewhere in the NFL.
Pushing him in the right direction was Trubisky’s heck of an effort against the Bears in Buffalo’s preseason game last weekend. In about a half of work, he torched the Bears and folks around the NFL certainly noticed.
Bleacher Report took the storyline Trubisky created in Chicago and certainly rolled with it afterword. B/R thinks the the plan Beane laid out for the QB to latch onto another opportunity in the league after 2021 is now possible.
B/R admitted Trubisky will have to see more playing time at some point during the regular season to convince a team that he’s worthy of another shot. But there was an interesting comparison made to Trubisky’s potential future: Ryan Tannehill:
In short, (Trubisky) looked like an NFL starter. A solid one, even.
There’s something of a precedent for first-round picks “busting” under center only to find success in a new home. After being drafted eighth overall by the Miami Dolphins in 2012, Ryan Tannehill struggled—he was 42-46 over six seasons in Miami before eventually being traded to the Tennessee Titans to be the backup to Marcus Mariota.
Since then, he has won 18 of 26 starts after hooking up with then-Titans OC Arthur Smith and has been named both a Pro Bowler and the Comeback Player of Year–while leading the Titans to two postseason berths and a spot in the AFC Championship Game.
Trubisky is certainly a long ways away from becoming Tannehill, but he did show he’s not a bad quarterback. Teams in the league could currently have a worse player projected to be their starter under center for Week 1.
For the Bills, the best sequence of events only involves one path for the QB.
There’s two ways Trubisky could possibly get into a meaningful regular season game for Buffalo. The first is the scary way: An Allen injury.
But how about Week 18?
If the Bills have nothing to gain in their season finale, the team could do Trubisky a favor and give him some playing time in that one. It might be one-and-done in Buffalo if this unfolded and he played well, but Trubisky would likely pull for such an opportunity to unfold for him later on this season.
