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Buffalo Bills In Trouble In 2015 After Kyle Orton’s Retirement

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Without much fanfare, Kyle Orton retired from the NFL on Monday morning. The decision surprised not just fans around the league, but the Buffalo Bills and his teammates as well.

According to Bills’ reporters, Orton stopped by his locker, said he was going to a meeting and would be back to talk to the media later. Orton never returned and shortly after announced his retirement in a statement: “I just have been going at it for 10 years and it’s just a family decision and I’ve decided to get home and be a dad and call it a day.”

The 32-year-old replaced E.J. Manuel as the starter in Week 5 and led the Bills to a 7-5 record in his 12 weeks under center. 2014 was Orton’s third season with over 3,000 passing yards and arguably the best year of his career. The Purdue alum completed 64.2 percent of his pass attempts with 18 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

What makes the retirement most surprising is Orton clearly had some good years of productive football remaining. The Bills enjoyed their first winning season since 2004 and their quarterback played a major part in that.

Manuel was expected to be the future of the franchise after being the first quarterback drafted and No. 16 pick overall in the 2013 draft. He struggled in his first two years in the NFL, including the first four games of the 2014 season. After Orton’s retirement, Manuel is expected to take back his old starting job in Buffalo. He will need to quickly prove he deserves the nod or the Bills won’t be shy to once again pull the trigger on a quarterback change.

Head coach Doug Marrone’s decision to replace Manuel after only four games indicates the amount of faith he has in his young quarterback. If Manuel does not take the next step in his development and significantly improve his play, the Bills will greatly miss Orton and find themselves back at the bottom of the AFC East in 2015.

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