It was beyond shocking that EJ Manuel was the first QB taken in the NFL Draft this past April. And also quite surprising that a signal caller didn’t go until that late in the draft. Especially, when you consider all the teams that badly need a QB.
The Buffalo Bills took EJ Manuel with the 16th pick out of Florida State. The 6-4, 237 pound prospect certainly holds the ball up a little high. He had some fumbles at Florida State. He obviously has a lot of good tools, but his mechanics will probably have to change for him to be a starter.
Former Indianapolis Colts GM and current ESPN analyst Bill Polian talked about what the coaching staff does with new rookie quarterbacks that need to fix their mechanics.
“the bottom line is that they’ll improve mechanics, and unless it’s a huge flaw like arm angle, delivery of the ball, it’s really not an issue. It’ll get corrected. I harken back to when Peyton Manning came out he had a habit of moving his feet and staying alive in the pocket, tapping his feet, short, choppy steps while he was in the pocket, and people called that nervous feet,” Polian said.
“They thought that it was a detriment. Now every quarterback beyond the fourth grade is taught to tap his feet in the pocket the way Peyton does. Mechanics can be — mechanical flaws can be overblown, and they often are. You work with what the player has and improve it, and players always improve,” Polian continued.
EJ Manuel is second on the depth chart behind Kevin Kolb right now. Of course, I never really liked the EJ Manuel pick anyway. At least not from a “step in start standpoint.” I did like the idea of taking EJ Manuel for a longview alternative.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, a Fox Sports affiliate. He is also an analyst for 95.7 The Fan, and writes on Chicago sports media for Chicago Now. President Obama follows his Twitter account (@PaulMBanks)