Syracuse QB Ryan Nassib Making His Way Into The First-Round?

Peter King of Sports Illustrated mentioned Monday in his Monday Morning Quarterback article that he keeps hearing that teams are becoming more and more impressed with two young signal callers in this year’s draft – Florida State’s E.J. Manuel and Syracuse’s Ryan Nassib.

According to King, teams have mentioned both could be “late-first-round prospects,” and that Nassib is right now looking more like he could truly become one.

King was told by a personnel man for a “team not interested in drafting a quarterback this year” that he can’t see Nassib lasting too long into the second round, assuming he even makes it out of the first round.

One team in particular makes sense for Nassib. That would be the Buffalo Bills.  The team’s new head coach, Doug Marrone, coached Nassib for his entire four year career with the Orange.

The question becomes: would Nassib be appealing enough to another NFL team towards the end of the first round before the Bills select 41^st overall in the second round? Or, is having a quarterback prospect like Nassib worth taking eighth-overall?

Former NFL head coach and ESPN football analyst Jon Gruden told King following his tapings of this year’s Gruden’s QB Camp he was particularly impressed by Nassib.

“If the Bills really like him, and they think he’s the best guy on the board, why not take him at eight? Why take even the slightest risk he wouldn’t be there later?”

The reuniting of Marrone and Nassib only makes sense. With the two already having chemistry and the team lacking a franchise quarterback, there’s certainly an opportunity for Nassib, should he go to the Bills, to work his way into a starting role. Buffalo did recently sign former Cardinals passer Kevin Kolb to a deal, but by no means does that guarantee him the starting job.

Nassib has already accomplished a plentiful amount during his collegiate career. Perhaps most impressively, he faced the likely top quarterback prospect in this year’s draft, Geno Smith, three times in college. Nassib won all three head-to-head contests.