Trent Edwards Has Some Fans

I'll say this for Buffalo's new starting quarterback, Trent Edwards: He's got a lot of big-named supporters. The late Bill Walsh loved Edwards coming out of Stanford, and now, former NFL MVP Rich Gannon has some kind words for the Bills rookie:

Gannon was in Buffalo last week for the Baltimore game, and when asked the other day by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune which young quarterback in the NFL he thought had a chance to be the next star, he replied, "Trent Edwards in Buffalo."...

"They came out against Baltimore and ran no-huddle the whole game," Gannon said. "That's not easy for a rookie to do. Trent is directing traffic at the line of scrimmage, he's getting the Bills out of bad plays and into good plays. I'm not trying to make him out as the next Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, but he's much further along than any other rookie."

I'm with Gannon: I like Edwards a lot, and think he has more upside than J.P. Losman, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves with his performances to date. He's done an adequate job of managing the game, but he's been handcuffed by some pretty conservative play-calling and ill-timed interceptions in the Bills loss to the Cowboys, and the almost-loss to the Ravens.

There are a couple of story lines to watch in the second half of the season: what happens if Edwards struggles? Does head coach Dick Jauron return to Losman? And if Edwards finishes the 2007 season strong, what are the plans for Losman going forward? Will he be Kyle Boller-ized -- a former first-rounder re-signed to be a backup -- or will he see what's available in free agency? With guys like Vinny Testaverde and Tim Rattay getting starts, you'd have to think Losman's future might be elsewhere.