Buffalo Bills Sign Ryan Fitzpatrick to Back Up Trent Edwards

It took the Bills less than 24 hours to find a replacement for J.P. Losman. After never playing consistently enough to convince the front office that he was a legitimate NFL starter -- and five years after Buffalo traded into the first round to select him -- Losman is now a free agent.

Former Harvard star and Rams' seventh-round pick Ryan Fitzpatrick was signed Friday to serve as Trent Edwards' backup. Fitzpatrick started 12 games for the Bengals last season in place of an injured Carson Palmer. He fared well considering the circumstances: 59.4 completion percentage, 1,905 passing yards, eight touchdowns and nine interceptions.

More importantly, perhaps, Fitzpatrick seems comfortable in his role as Edwards' understudy.

"I think it's helped me a lot in my career to play behind Marc Bulger and Carson Palmer," said Fitzpatrick. "I've been able to see how they approach the game, and in doing that I've been able to help them out. I think that's what I'm going to bring here. Trent is still a young guy and I'm going to help him out with his preparation. I'm going to be his eyes when he's on the field and I'm looking forward to that relationship."

And if -- god forbid -- Edwards should hit a rough patch similar to the one he experienced midway through the 2008 season (although, to be fair, it all started after he got knocked silly by the Cards' Adrian Wilson), Fitzpatrick has proven quite capable of handling the starting duties -- which will inevitably lead to the world's lamest, media-contrived quarterback controversy.