The Seattle Seahawks are sending backup quarterback Tarvaris Jackson to the Buffalo Bills in a trade, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. Terms of the deal are not available yet and neither team has confirmed the trade.
In six seasons, Tarvaris Jackson has amassed 7,075 yards through the air on 625 completions and 1,053 attempts (59.4 completion percentage) with 38 touchdowns to 35 interceptions and picked up 643 yards with five scores on the ground in 51 games (34 starts). Last season, Jackson, 29, started 14 games for the Seahawks.
He didn’t blow anyone away, but he didn’t really disappoint that much, either. The 6-2, 225-pound signal-caller completed 271 of 450 passes (60.2 completion percentage) for 3,091 yards with 14 touchdowns to 13 interceptions in 2011.
It became inevitable that Jackson’s days were numbered in Seattle when rookie Russell Wilson emerged as the team’s most exciting passer and presumable Week 1 starter this September after outperforming $19 million man Matt Flynn.
This impending trade likely means the end of the road for Vince Young in Buffalo. Coach Chan Gailey has worked well with mobile passers in the past, but the former Tennessee Titans and Philadelphia Eagles signal-caller has sputtered in the preseason and struggled to adapt to the Bills’ spread offense.
“Jackson is yet another mid-level passer, but an upgrade over Young,” Marc Sessler of NFL.com writes. ”None of this is good news for backup Tyler Thigpen. The Bills have said all summer they’re committed to keeping versatile Brad Smith as the team’s third passer.”
Photo Credit: BuffaloBills.com
Smith, 28, also known as the Swiss Army Knife, spent his first season with the Bills in 2011, racking up 23 receptions for 240 yards and a score. He also had 87 yards on 20 carries with a touchdown and an additional 282 yards on 15 kickoff returns.
In his first five seasons, Brad Smith collected 64 receptions for 557 yards and two touchdowns with 767 yards and three touchdowns on 98 carries on the ground. He also amassed 1,968 yards and a pair of scores on 74 kick returns with 27 yards and a touchdown on two punt returns. The 6-2, 212-pound receiver, returner, runner and Wildcat quarterback also threw for 51 yards and a score, completing four of seven passes with the New York Jets.
Smith was selected by Gang Green in the fourth round (103rd overall) out of Missouri in the 2006 NFL Draft, appearing in all but four games for the team with 22 starts.
It looks like Ryan Fitzpatrick will be the starter with Tarvaris Jackson as the main backup and Brad Smith as the No. 3 QB. That means Vince Young and Tyler Thigpen will be looking to take their talents elsewhere after getting the boot in Buffalo.
Verse of This Piece: “I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘Go fall into the sea.’ And if you have no doubts in your mind and believe that what you say will happen, God will do it for you. So I tell you to believe that you have received the things you ask for in prayer, and God will give them to you.”—Mark 11:23-24
Michael Gartman is a College Football and NFL Senior Writer, the AFC South and NFC West Lead Writer and the Founder, CEO of GridironGrit.com. He also writes for RantPolitical.com, where he reports on topics across all sides of the political spectrum and analyzes important issues in the liberty movement. Follow @_MichaelGartman, @RantPolitical and @GridironGrit on Twitter!
