As the 2009 NFL season slides into the homestretch, it’s become glaringly apparent to anyone who watches that the quarterback of the future is not on the Bills roster.  Yes, just yesterday I wrote the Bills should start Brian Brohm near the end of the season, but it’s not likely to happen.  Why not?  Because Perry Fewell and Alex Van Pelt are coaching for their jobs.  They’re not worried about the future because they may not have one here.  They’ll go with the quarterback that gives them the best chance to win each week, and that guy looks like Ryan Fitzpatrick for now. The last thing Fewell is thinking about is 2010 and beyond.

But for the sake of moving on, let’s assume that Brohm does get some playing time and it’s concluded he’s not the future. That’s not far fetched, seeing he couldn’t get past Green Bay’s practice squad.

There’s barely adequate backups available in free agency let alone legitimate starters.  Sure, there’s always the trade possibility, but it wouldn’t be wise to entrust the turnaround of the Bills in the hands of a Michael Vick or Derek Anderson.

That leaves next April’s NFL draft.  In all likelihood the Bills will get their next franchise signal caller early on draft day.  Top names, depending on who comes out early are already surfacing; Jake Locker, Tony Pike, Colt McCoy, Jimmy Clausen and Sam Bradford are just some of the big names expected to be available.  In what order remains to be seen, and we’ll refrain from projecting for now since it’s so far away.

But as the draft does gets closer and player workouts commence, there’s sure to be two or three among the group that begin to stand out.  So how do the Bills get the guy they want?

Let’s start with this.  Whoever comes out as the top rated quarterback will not a Buffalo Bill.  In all probability, he’ll be with the St. Louis Rams.  Marc Bulger will be 33 next year, with the body of a 60-year old.  He hasn’t played a full season without injury in three years.  Besides, the Rams already drafted their franchise tackle last year in Jason Smith.  The Rams are going quarterback next April and odds are they’ll have their pick of the litter.

The last thing the Bills want to do is be forced to take a quarterback, but end up with a guy a lot further down the rankings than the top two or three.  We all saw how that played out in 2004 when Buffalo took Losman after Manning, Rivers and Rothlisberger were all gone.

If you want the Buffalo Bills to be able to get your guy in the 2010 draft, here are some things you should put your rally cap on for:

Brady Quinn comes on over the last six weeks: The Cleveland Browns are in disarray.  At 1-9 they’ll be picking ahead of Buffalo for sure.  Up until last Sunday it seemed a lock they’d be looking to rid themselves of Anderson and Quinn and wipe their quarterback slate clean.  But after last week that may no longer be a given.

Granted it was against the lowly Detroit Lions, but Quinn had the game of his NFL life.  He completed 21-of-33 passes for 304 yards and through four touchdowns without an interception.  Prior to that he was miserable in four starts.  The Browns invested a first rounder in him in 2007 and they’re sure to take a long look at him over the final six games.  If he can play just decent football, it may lead the Browns to address other holes and trust me, they have a lot of them.

Root like hell for the Raiders!: Currently Oakland is tied with Buffalo at 3-7.  With the exception of a home game against Washington and traveling to Cleveland, they have a murderous schedule remaining (at Dallas, Pittsburgh and Denver and a home contest against Baltimore).  Why root for the Raiders?  Well, if you think the Bills quarterback situation is bad, try being an Oakland fan.  Compared to JaMarcus Russell, Ryan Leaf was a steal.  Whether Tom Cable returns or not next year, the Raiders will be looking for a new signal caller.  Russell may be lucky to have a job anywhere in the NFL after 2009 and Bruce Gradkowski is certainly not the answer.  Just like the Bills, the Raiders will want a clean slate at quarterback.

Ditto for the Washington Redskins: It doesn’t take an expert to know the Skins’ will have a new head coach next season.  Whomever it is, is about as likely to bring Jason Campbell back as the starter as the Bills are with Edwards.  Campbell has had numerous chances to establish himself and blown it, and backup Todd Collins is far too old to build a team around. Like the Bills, Washington is currently 3-7. With the exception of the winnable game at Oakland, they could very well finish with three or four wins.  They still must play all three NFC East foes and have games against the undefeated Saints and at San Diego.

Ditto for the Seattle Seahawks: Matt Hasselbeck is getting old. He’s also become quite injury prone.  Seattle could easily target a quarterback next April. They’re sitting at 3-7 right now, but unlike Washington and Oakland they have a much easier schedule.  With St. Louis, Tampa Bay, San Francisco and Houston on the docket, the Hawks’ should get to at least 5-6 wins, making the probability of them picking ahead of Buffalo miniscule.

Ditto for San Francisco: The last team lurking around the Bills in the standings with serious quarterback issues, Mike Singletary has grown tired of inconsistent play from Alex Smith, Shaun Hill and anyone else under center in recent years.  At 4-6 and a schedule that sees them close vs. Detroit and at St. Louis, the 49ers should finish ahead of Buffalo in the standings.

Just LOSE Baby!: I know it’s taboo to say, but let’s keep it real.  The Bills are toast for 2009.  They’re going nowhere, have no shot at the playoffs and at this point hard-fought losses would do them better than a couple of ugly wins.  They’re in the market for a new coach and hopefully will clean house in the front office. The lower they finish accomplishes two things; it puts a heavier emphasis to Ralph Wilson on how far they have to go, and it helps improve their draft position.  As you see by the listed teams above, there is going to be plenty of competition in the college quarterback market. The higher the Bills pick the better chance they have of getting the guy the new brass will want.  The game at Kansas City in a few weeks looms huge.  Pathetic, isn’t it?

Summary: As of right now, the only team that’s a lock to finish lower than the Bills and draft a quarterback is St. Louis.  If that and the current draft position holds true, the Bills would get the second or third quarterback on the board.  If that number gets any lower, you’re getting into “reach” territory.  As desperately as the Bills look like they’ll need a quarterback next April, they hopefully learned (Losman) that you can’t just draft one in the first round because he’s the next one on the board. If Oakland, Washington and Seattle finish ahead of Buffalo they’ll be in excellent shape.  If the Bills get on a bit of a hot streak now though, it could cost them dearly on draft day next year.

The unfortunate tiebreaker: The first tiebreaker when determining draft order goes by strength of schedule.  The Bills still play the Colts, who may be undefeated at that time.  They also play New England, sure to reach double digits in wins.  Miami and Atlanta will probably finish with winning records.  In other words, the Bills may be screwed against any other team on tiebreakers.  It’s impossible to say with six games left, but any tiebreaker doesn’t look good for Buffalo right now.