E.J. Manuel apparently requires zero-down payment to get a shot with the Oakland Raiders.
Just as things were up for Raiders fans, things are gloomy again. Oakland might be so poor and starved of money with this “We’re going to Vegas!” mentality that it just signed a quarterback for practically nothing. Reportedly, fourth-year NFL QB E.J. Manuel has agreed to a one-year deal with the team worth a humble $800,000, per Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network. It sounds like a lot of cold hard cash, but Manuel isn’t promised any of it, according to the source.
EJ Manuel's deal with the Raiders: one year, $800k, no guaranteed money
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 22, 2017
It’s an oddball situation for Manuel, but it proves that where there’s an opportunity, he’ll travel. While spending time in Buffalo over the last four seasons, Manuel has, for the most part, earned over a million dollars. That wasn’t the case during his rookie season in 2013, when a base salary was established at just over $400,000 ($1.2 million bonus). Obviously, signing with the Raiders is a pay decrease, but it’s kind of refreshing to know that there’s a D-List in the NFL in terms of money.
To put this entire laughing matter into perspective, Manuel is really defining the food chain. Among quarterbacks (including rookies), there are only five that will roll in less dough than Manuel: Mike Bercovici, Joel Stave, Connor Shaw, Dustin Vaughan and Kellen Moore. Eerily enough, a majority of those names went undrafted. Then again, beggars can’t be choosers and Manuel doesn’t really belong in a roundtable discussion of Million Dollar Quarterbacks.
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Aside from Oakland, this also affects Seminole Nation, all the members of which are probably drying out their eyes as they cry from embarrassment. One of their alumni just sold his soul to the devil for some charity work. As an NFL quarterback, Manuel hasn’t been that impressive, despite being picked 16th overall in the 2013 NFL Draft. As of today, he has racked up 19 touchdowns to 15 interceptions, all the while being sacked on a little over seven percent of his snaps.