Could Trent Edwards Be the New Trent Dilfer?

I don't know about you but I've lost track of what is the new black this year. Maybe black is the new black. Wouldn't that be refreshing?

But switching from fashion to football, I'm wondering whether there might be some hope for Buffalo Bills fans in the story of a quarterback with the same first name as the first name of the Bills' putative first-team quarterback.

Bills fans and pretty much everyone else who pays attention to the NFL have been underwhelmed by Trent Edwards performance over the past few years, after he failed to live up to the rookie season hype.

The same people (myself included) have been even more puzzled than disappointed or disgruntled with the Bills choice to pass on two or three potential franchise quarterbacks in the draft, as well as several who were available as free agents.

They left Jimmy, Colt, and one or two other promising QB's on the board while drafting yet another running back (although the early injuries to Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch makes that decision look better every day—lucky, if not smart). They ignored Jim Kelly's advice on Tim Tebow, too.

They made no attempt to pursue Donovan McNabb or Michael Vick or any other veteran quarterbacks who might have been better than what some have called the "three stooges" (Edwards, Fitzpatrick, and Brohm).

Instead, new general manager Buddy Nix and his choice for head coach, Chan Gailey, (neither of whom were on anyone's long list for possible GM's or head coaches in Buffalo with such an impressive class of unemployed coaches available who had their own Super Bowl rings) have been suggesting and implying that Gailey has a knack for developing mediocre quarterbacks into serviceable ones.

Well, what if they're right? Has anyone considered that? Why not give them a chance to make good on that proposition? After all, you don't have to have a Drew Brees, Brett Favre, Tom Brady or Peyton Manning to win a Super Bowl.

Remember Trent Dilfer? Consider him the worst quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl, and almost get to a Super Bowl the previous year.

He took Tampa Bay with a game of the big one in 1999. They thanked him by firing him. Buc management just didn't believe he could do that well or better again.

So he signed with Baltimore and finished what he started in Tampa, for them in 2000.

Before those two years, no one would have predicted it. Dilfer had been relegated to permanent second tier status by the pundits and most fans. Obviously there was more to him than the average educated fan (or coach or GM) would have guessed. It was as much an intangible as it was talent. 

So, if the rumors are true about Chan Gailey, that his forte is to help Trent Dilfers unleash their inner Brett Favres, then it is possible Trent Edwards could be the new Trent Dilfer.

It's possible, and I'm going to believe it until proven otherwise. 

My fall-back position: Brian Brohm is the new, the new, the new....