Buddy Nix embarrasses himself (and the franchise) in handling of Ryan Fitzpatrick

More surprising than Levitre's departure was the media-circus surrounding quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick's release from the Bills. Just a day prior to his release, Deadspin.com published phone conversations with Buffalo general manager Buddy Nix being duped into believing one of the callers was Falcons' GM Mark Dominik. Nix went on to discuss his concerns with Fitzpatrick's contract, even going so far as to say,

 "We're still struggling here with our quarterback...We're not really struggling--he's going to have to do something, or we'll have to."
 

While there was little doubt that Fitzpatrick was making more than he probably should have after the aforementioned Nix signed him to a six-year, $58 million contract extension in 2011, Buffalo's GM should have the common sense to keep all other GMs phone numbers programmed in his phone, instead of daftly talking business with what amounted to prank callers.

There was not much doubt that Fitzpatrick had fallen out of favor with the majority of the fanbase by season's end, and even Nix had made previous statements to the media that the team didn't view Fitzpatrick as a long-term solution at quarterback. In spite of that, the Bills essentially cut Fitzpatrick loose to save just $500,000 against the salary cap this year. While his reported post-June 1 designation, the Bills will split the $10 million cap hit over the next two years, which does free up more money this season (approximately $7 million). The biggest problem with the Fitzpatrick release is that the team only has one quarterback on the roster with NFL experience in Tarvaris Jackson, who didn't even play a regular-season snap for Buffalo last season.

If there was any doubt that Buffalo was in the market for a quarterback in the upcoming draft, any lingering doubt has been removed after Fitzpatrick's release. The problem is that the 2013 Draft lacks a "can't-miss" quarterback prospect in this draft, as West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith is the consensus top quarterback on the board, but lacks the polish and arm strength of the top 2012 quarterbacks (Andrew Luck, RGIII).

At 73 years old, Nix's time as a general manager likely won't last too much longer, and Buffalo has a talented young personnel man waiting in the wings in assistant general manager (and former pro personnel man) Doug Whaley. If the Bills aren't able to turn their fortunes around in the next couple of years, Nix could find himself on the outs of what is likely his last GM job in the NFL. Nix needs to prove he can adapt to the times, as the fanbase has been embarrassed enough by the team's play over the last 13 years to have to endure their GM embarrassing the franchise.