Last year, EJ Manuel was the first quarterback selected in the NFL draft, and the only one to go off the board in the first round, taken No. 16 overall by Buffalo. One former NFL general manager, turned analyst, says Manuel would likely be a second day pick in the 2014 draft.
Former Redskins General Manager Charley Casserly says this year’s draft class has at least seven quarterbacks who are better pro prospects than Manuel was at this time last year.
He named Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater, Central Florida’s Blake Bortles, Texas A&M’sJohnny Manziel, Fresno State’s Derek Carr, Eastern Illinois’s Jimmy Garoppolo, Alabama’s A.J. McCarron and LSU’s Zach Mettenberger.
“I’ve got a lot of guys rated ahead of him based on their college career and based on Manuel’s college career,” Casserly said, via Tim Graham of the Buffalo News.
“Bridgewater, Bortles, Manziel, Carr, Garoppolo and McCarron. I’ve got them all rated ahead of EJ Manuel, coming out a year ago. And you know what? LSU quarterback Mettenberger. I’ve got him ahead of Manuel, too.”
We should all take Casserly’s comments with a grain of salt and remember he’s the same guy who selected David Carr first overall in 2002 and Heath Shuler third overall in 1994.
All seven of those players listed on Casserly’s list had some pretty poor performances at the collegiate level and the numbers show that only 2-3 of the seven quarterbacks on the list will go on to be solid, playoff level guys anyway.