Of all the quarterbacks available to the Bills in this year's NFL draft, the one they must have the most knowledge about is Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib.
And still, the Bills brain trust put Nassib through a private workout today as well as four other Syracuse draft eligible players. G/C Zack Chibane, WR Alec Lemon, WR Marcus Sales, and TE David Stevens rounded out the group.
Nassib played under Bills Head Coach Doug Marrone for four years at Syracuse. And his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at SU was the Bills current offensive coordinator, Nathaniel Hackett.
The Bills have already watched Nassib work at the Senior Bowl in late January and had face-to-face meetings with him in Mobile. They did more of the same in Indianapolis in late February at the NFL Combine. Put that on top of today's workout, and the fact that Marrone and Hackett coached Nassib at Syracuse, and you would think they've got a pretty good idea of the Pennsylvania native's NFL prospects.
"I know him very well," Marrone said last Tuesday, "being together for four years. I think all the quarterbacks I have seen personally, have the ability to win in this league. Each one of them has pluses and minuses when it comes to all the intangibles that people look at when they define what they are looking for in a quarterback."
"Ryan, like many of the others I have spoken to, the reason I think they'll be successful, is because of their work ethic and what they do," Marrone added.
The Bills Head Coach also talked about the value of these private workouts, even after studying hours and hours of tape, and meeting with players at the combine and the Senior Bowl.
"The private workouts, you get to look at what you're not sure about, that you saw on tape," Marrone said. "You want to see things that you might not see enough of on tape, so you get a private workout, you can see it and feel good about walking away with it. That's the big advantage."
Nassib started 38-games over the last three years at Syracuse, finishing with 70-touchdowns and 28-interceptions.
