The Buffalo Bills narrowly missed out on an opportunity to play in the AFC Championship Game this past season despite an excellent performance from star quarterback Josh Allen, losing in overtime to the Kansas City Chiefs 42-36.
Allen is obviously crucial to the Bills’ success in 2022, but it appears that the team has made it a point to sure up their backup quarterback spot for next season as well.
The team traded with the Cleveland Browns to bring in backup quarterback Case Keenum on Sunday, and now they have brought back veteran quarterback Matt Barkley on a one-year contract to presumably compete for the backup quarterback position for 2022.
He’s back. 🙌
We’ve signed QB @MattBarkley to a one-year contract! #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/471hUxNhnA
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) March 21, 2022
Barkley was with the team from 2018 to 2020, but the Bills replaced him with now-Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mitch Tribusky, feeling he was a better option as their backup in 2021. The former USC quarterback spent last season jumping between the Titans, Panthers, and Falcons on practice squads and short-term deals.
Through Barkley’s six-year NFL career, he has gone just 2-5 as a starter, but he will seemingly provide Buffalo with some experience in the quarterback room going forward.
It is unclear at this point whether Barkley or Keenum will be the immediate backup going forward, but the Bills bringing him in likely means that there will at least be some sort of competition in training camp for the number 2 spot behind Allen. That will be critical if Allen gets injured at some point during the season.
