EJ Manuel Walks Away From The NFL After 5 Seasons

By Jordan Long

Quarterback EJ Manuel decided to retire from the NFL at age 29.   This is after 5 years in the NFL spent with the Buffalo Bills and Oakland Raiders.  He didn’t play football last year but signed a contract with Kansas City in the offseason before calling it a career.

                Manuel was selected 16^th overall in the 2013 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills, the only quarterback picked in the 1^st-round. This was after spending his college career at Florida State.  He played 4 years there finishing with 7,741 passing yards and 47 touchdowns.  Manuel tossed 28 interceptions.  Those aren’t the best stats to be a 1st-round pick, but Manuel was a scrambling quarterback who could run to gain yards, rushing for 827 yards and 11 touchdowns.  The Bills hoped he was the answer at quarterback.

                In his rookie season, he started in 10 games.  He was average at best with 1,972 passing yards and 11 touchdowns with 9 interceptions.   It didn’t help Manuel’s offensive line didn’t protect him with 28 sacks.  He missed 5 games after he injured the lateral-collateral ligament in week 5 in a game against the Browns. 

                The next year Manuel played 5 games before being benched.  The Bills went 2-2 with him but Manuel struggled with only 838 yards and 5 touchdowns with 3 interceptions.  The Bills made the switch to Kyle Orton who went 7-5 helping the Bills finish 9-7.

                Manuel started 13 games over the course of the next 2 seasons.  The Bills declined his 5^th-year on his contract making him a free agent for 2017.  Oakland agreed to a 1-year contract with him on March 20^th, 2017.  He was the backup to Derek Carr and saw action in 2 games, tossing for 265 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception.

                Manuel sat out last season.  Teams weren’t calling him.  Kansas City took a chance on him on February 22^nd, hoping Manuel could win the backup quarterback job behind Patrick Mahomes.  It won’t happen since he decided to walk away from the NFL.

                Manuel leaves the game with 3,767 passing yards, 20 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. Those stats are below average.  The NFL never had the opportunity to see Manuel at his full potential.  The problem was the Bills were a poor team and didn’t protect him.  He was always being rushed and was sacked 47 times in his career, far too many.   He missed time because of those hits.