Buffalo Bills making mistake with EJ Manuel as third-string QB

EJ Manuel doesn’t deserve the raw deal he’s gotten from the Buffalo Bills.

Going back to the team’s poor decision to draft him No. 16 overall in the 2013 NFL Draft up until now, he’s never been in a position to succeed.

It wasn’t his fault the Bills overvalued him and expected him to suddenly turn into a franchise passer, even though the tape showed a kid with exceptional talent but very little polish. Fast forward to today, and Manuel finally has developed some of that polish, but he’s not in any position to continue developing after Buffalo’s latest move to torpedo his career.

After cutting veteran Matt Cassel to save $4.15 million, the Bills brought him back on a one-year deal worth around $900,000 (the veteran minimum) and immediately made him the backup to starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor.

Third-string quarterbacks don’t get many reps with the team’s offense, meaning all the progress Manuel has made this offseason will not be cultivated during the season.

In three preseason games, Manuel completed 66.7 percent of his passes (20 of 30) for 358 yards (11.9 yards per attempt) with four touchdowns and zero interceptions.

While it’s true he did play for the most part against backups, these numbers represent a vast improvement over what we’ve seen in his career thus far.

What Buffalo is doing to Manuel isn’t fair. He has the potential to become a dynamic starter in this league, but instead he’s likely going to wearing street clothes on game days.

He’s never been given a fair chance to succeed with the Bills. He should have been given the opportunity to grow as a starter, but that didn’t happen because in 2014 then-head coach Doug Marrone was on the hottest of hot seats and didn’t have time to work with a developing quarterback.

Before he’d even had a chance to start 16 games, which is the equivalent of one full NFL season, the former FSU star was pushed to the side in Buffalo. And he’s never had a chance to get back to the forefront, even though he’s clearly grown into some maturity at the quarterback position.

The Bills should have let Cassel sign somewhere else and kept Manuel as Taylor’s backup. It’s not like Cassel something special. He’s a mediocre game manager who didn’t do a good job making his receivers better this preseason, despite completing a high percentage of his passes.

At this point, Manuel should request a trade. Bills beat writer Tim Graham hasn’t heard of any request of this nature yet, but nobody should be surprised if the young quarterback does attempt to get himself out of a bad situation in Buffalo.