Buffalo Bills head Coach Doug Marrone Says EJ Manuel Isn’t Polished
By Josh Hill
The Buffalo Bills shocked a lot of people in the NFL Drat when they traded back and selected Florida State quarterback EJ Manuel as their first round pick. Manuel wasn’t expected to be the first quarterback off the board which means the pressure is already mounting in terms of what is going to be expected out of him moving forward.
But in his defense, the quarterback class wasn’t nearly as good as people were claiming it was, so it should come as no surprise that Bills head coach Doug Marrone admitted that Manuel isn’t a polished quarterback and needs some work in aspects of his game.
“It’s what I expected,” Marrone said, via ESPN. “I didn’t think he’d come in here and be the polished guy.
Marrone did say that he though EJ Manuel did well in his first practices as a professional, and while there’s work to be done Marrone says that’s partly on Manuel and partly on his habit of forming high expectations for players he’s never coached before.
“As a coach, I know I’ve had this problem that if I create expectations in my mind of players I’ve never coached before, I can find myself getting into trouble,” Marrone said. “So I try to go in there open-minded. … But I was very happy with EJ.”
Manuel is expected to compete with Kevin Kolb and Tavaris Jackson for the starting job in Buffalo and while he’s not as polished as the guys who came out of the draft last season, there’s a good chance Manuel wins the job over Kolb and starts the season out under center for the Bills. The question there is, if Manuel starts, will it be a detriment to his ultimate success?
“No nerves. I was just excited to be out there,” Manuel said of his first practice as a Bill. “Strap it up with cleats, and a helmet back on, it was a great feeling.”
There’s already a ton of pressure on EJ Manuel to succeed, but only time will tell if he’s really as good as he’s been made out to be.