(What is he smoking??)
Casserly: Seven QBs in 2014 NFL Draft rate ahead of EJ Manuel
Bryan Fischer
College Football 24/7 writer
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Heading into the 2013 NFL Draft, most thought there were not going to be a ton of quarterbacks taken in the first round. Those low expectations didn't lessen the surprise any when the only quarterback taken in the first round wound up being EJ Manuel, who the Buffalo Bills traded back to get in the middle of the round.
While most consider the 2014 class of quarterbacks to be much stronger than a year ago, how much so might raise a few eyebrows. Former NFL general manager and current NFL Media analyst Charley Casserly revealed just how much more he likes this year's crop of signal-callers over last year's on NFL Network's "Path to the Draft".
"I've got a lot of guys rated ahead of (Manuel) based on their college career and based on Manuel's college career," Casserly said. "[Teddy] Bridgewater, [blake] Bortles, [Johnny] Manziel, [Derek] Carr, [Jimmy] Garoppolo and [AJ] McCarron -- I've got them all rated ahead of EJ Manuel coming out a year ago. And you know what, LSU quarterback [Zach] Mettenberger, I've got him ahead of Manuel, too."
Seven quarterbacks ahead of last year's only first rounder? Not exactly the news you want to hear if you're a Buffalo Bills fan.
To be fair, the jury is still out on Manuel as an NFL starter after he missed a little less than half the season as a rookie due to knee issues. On top of missing games, that's a lot of missed practice time, too.