Perception is one of the craziest concepts in sports. A player like Cardale Jones has an unprecedented three-game run to the National Championship and you have sports voices across the country declaring him a first-round draft pick. Then you have E.J. Manuel, a guy who was said to be a mid-to-late round draft pick, who after 14 games that he should not have played in the first place – by nature of his draft grade – is already being cast off as a bust.
We want to turn people into stars too early. It’s a narrative that is easy to fall in love with, yet when those same stars don’t live up to expectation, they become footnotes in our memories and probably overlooked too soon. Without diving too deep into the story of Manuel, understand that he was supposed to be a project quarterback. By project I mean a player who has raw talent and needs to be shaped and molded into a good player – a process that takes years.
His injury-riddled rookie campaign forced Doug Marrone to coach any semblance of scrambling out of Manuel, totally destroying a large part of the up-side the Buffalo Bills originally saw in him. He became a two-way quarterback who never really ran, which is one of the safety nets available for young quarterbacks trying their best to learn and win at the same time.
In his first year, he finished with a 4-6 record, which nothing great, but it’s definitely not too shabby for a guy who was over-drafted by two rounds.
In Manuel’s sophomore year, he looked good in his first two games – along with the Bills’ running game, he guided the team to two back-to-back wins against the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins. But his next two games saw a couple turnovers and enough inaccurate passes that Marrone, with new ownership and possible firing looming, decided to go with veteran Kyle Orton.
In hindsight, I wonder if Marrone’s opt-out clause would have held up if he was fired; it makes you think how much that was a factor in this decision.
I contend that Manuel’s career hasn’t been impressive to this point, but I also believe it was never supposed to be. He was placed in a position he wasn’t ready for early in his career, but by nature of today’s NFL, no one holds remorse or cares about your circumstances. All that matters is results, and without them, your career will fall off the face of the earth.
With a new regime coming in, I believe Manuel will have his opportunity to lead this team behind a good defense and improved running game come September. If he can strengthen his accuracy and resurrect his ability to run, then I can see him playing good enough football to start to become what the Bills’ organization saw in him in the first place.
Leman Harris is an NFL writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @harrisleman.
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