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Bills open to cutting E.J. Manuel

By Cody Williams

Aug 16, 2013; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Buffalo Bills quarterback E.J. Manuel (3) drops back to pass against the Minnesota Vikings during the second half at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Bills beat the Vikings 20-16. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 16, 2013; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Buffalo Bills quarterback E.J. Manuel (3) drops back to pass against the Minnesota Vikings during the second half at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Bills beat the Vikings 20-16. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports /
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E.J. Manuel hasn’t produced in his first two seasons with the Buffalo Bills, which may now mean he’s done there.

The Buffalo Bills traded down in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft, knowing that they needed a quarterback and knowing that there weren’t any sure things in the year’s draft class. At pick No. 16, they settled on a bit of a surprising pick with the selection of E.J. Manuel out of Florida State.

Getting the starting nod in his first season with Buffalo, Manuel has struggled pretty mightily to get anything going with the Bills to this point. In fact, he’s struggled so mightily that his days may be numbered with the team as he enters just his third season.

According to a report from WKBW in Buffalo, if Manuel fails to show progress through the summer workouts and camps, as well as training camp, then he could very well be outright cut by the Bills before the start of the season.

The report clarifies many times that this isn’t a scare-tactic being brought on by the Bills—they have every intention of cutting Manuel if he’s not where they need him to be in terms of his performance at camp.

It’s also a crazy dynamic that the report focuses on briefly. While this could be the end of the road for Manuel if he’s not progressing in terms of his skills and maturity, he’s also going to be in competition for the starting job in Buffalo at the same time. That’s just how fluid the situation is in Buffalo at this point.

The failures to this point for Manuel aren’t solely based on some astronomical turnover problem where he’s throwing four interceptions for every touchdown pass. Instead, it’s more based on a lack of productivity, efficiency, wins, and improvement.

Manuel is just 6-8 in 14 career starts with the Bills. In his rookie season, he put up just 197.2 yards per start while completing a mere 58.8 percent of his passes and throwing only 11 touchdown passes.

While that’s not horrendous for a rookie on a mediocre team, the Bills had to be hoping for more last season from Manuel and he failed to show it. He was only slightly more productive in the first four games of the season as he threw for just 209.5 yards per game and completed only 58 percent of his passes. He also threw just five touchdown passes in those games before being benched in favor of Kyle Orton.

Given the lack of improvement from his rookie year to his second season, it’s not hard to understand why the Bills may feel it’s time to move on from the 25-year-old. Considering that the team’s other options at quarterback right now are Matt Cassel, Tyrod Taylor, and Jeff Tuel, though, it’s also a risky decision out of Buffalo. However, if Manuel’s not the franchise-guy (or something close to that) they need him to be, there’s no point in keeping him around any longer.

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