Buffalo Bills quarterback EJ Manuel has not had the type of start to his career a former first-round pick hopes for. Drafted 16th overall in 2013, Manuel suffered through a knee injury during his rookie year and was benched after just 14 starts across two seasons.
But with veteran quarterback Kyle Orton - who replaced Manuel in the starting lineup after the first month of this past season - retiring and a new coaching staff in place in Buffalo, Manuel's career has new life.
New offensive coordinator Greg Roman spoke to reporters yesterday and said that Manuel has the ability to play the quarterback position based on the game film he had watched of him. Roman noted that how the two work together and develop will help determine Manuel's role in the offense for the 2015 season.
"I'm not going to get into specifics," Roman said to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. "I think he's done some good things and displayed some good traits. We just have to get his level of consistency a little greater. Once we get through this evaluation process, he and every player is going to have a clean slate.
"What they might have been asked to do in the past is really not relevant to what we may or may not ask them to do. For me to pontificate about this, that, and the other, it's a little premature."
While Manuel hasn't lived up to expectations with the Bills, he also hasn't played as poorly as QB busts Christian Ponder and Jake Locker did in the same amount of time.
In 15 games, Manuel has thrown for 2,810 yards with 16 touchdowns and 12 interceptions and a completion percentage of 58.6. He has also rushed for 238 yards and three scores. Ponder completed less than 55 percent of his passes during his first stretch of extended playing time while Locker threw more interceptions than touchdowns during his sophomore campaign.
It's safe to say that the Bills will continue to look at other options at quarterback, but for the foreseeable future Manuel seems to have a legitimate shot at being the team's starting signal-caller.
