"This was not exactly a state secret, but because new Bills coach Chan Gailey refused to confirm who the first-string quarterback was, we had to wait until Thursday's inaugural training camp practice to officially find out that Trent Edwards is indeed the guy.

"After evaluating all the OTA and mini-camp things, we just felt that Trent deserved to start training camp with the first group," Gailey said after the Bills opened their 11th training camp at St. John Fisher College in front of a small crowd that baked under a bright afternoon sun.

"The other two guys (Ryan Fitzpatrick and Brian Brohm) will alternate with the twos during the course of the first few weeks, and then we'll get Levi (Brown) as many reps as we can get him."

While it was pretty much a given that Edwards was going to start camp No. 1, there is a sense among Bills fans that he is merely the best of a weak crop of quarterbacks and he begins practice at the top of the depth chart almost by default.

Obviously, that is not the opinion held by Gailey.

"He made a lot more plays that we thought were positive plays during the course of the OTAs and mini-camps," said Gailey when asked to reveal how he came to the decision. "He did a good job of handling the team, he did a good job when he had the threes as well as when he had the ones, and that was impressive to me that he was able to do that with whoever he was throwing with."

Edwards is entering his fourth NFL season, and his first three years were marked by injuries, inconsistency and losing records. His career numbers include a 61.3 completion percentage and a 77.9 passer rating with 24 touchdowns and 25 interceptions."