Last Guy on the Bench

Loved that. Loved the receptionist too. And loved Werner and EJ jawing about the first preseason game (Indy Buffalo). Second preseason game is Vikes so EJ will get to face Rhodes right after facing Werner.

Good listen. Thanks. A few things were interesting to me: -EJ started hanging out with the high school team informally when he was in 8th grade and Coach Moore said he would have started him that year if it were legal. -Coach Moore took a very long-term, developmental approach with EJ from the start. Said he thought he was NFL material right away (14 years old) and used to talk to EJ about "the big picture" and what he needed to do to get there. -In line with that developmental approach, Coach Moore refused to let him run the option his freshman and sophomore years (he started all four years), because he wanted him to solidify his pocket mechanics and didn't want him racially stereotyped as just an "athletic" running QB. Took some heat for this decision from people who said he kept the reins too tight on EJ's play those first two years. Anyway, thoughtful guy, and intriguing to hear some deep background on EJ.

That might be in EJ's favor over Kolb and Jackson. He put up with a rookie riddled o-line his junior year at FSU and managed to keep himself together. No one is at their best when getting pummeled, but I think he is a guy that can handle it better than most.

Thanks. I think he comes off very well in this interview, at any rate. He was smart to sign here. New staff with no preconceptions about the team. Really only Stevie as an established vet, with TJ semi-established, and Woods and Goodwin obvious shoe-ins for roster spots. That's only four though. He can fight it out with Easley, Smith, other UDFAs, etc. for the 5th and maybe 6th slots. If he has his head on straight and works hard, athletically he's got to be the favorite, I would think.

That's my worry. I don't think you can hedge your bets with a young QB the same way you can with other positions. A few bad games and the fans and even teammates can romanticize the backup (especially if he's prominent and young) and get inside the starter's head/divide the team, etc. Once a QB is established, it's fine to bring in some competition, but not when he is a highly drafted rookie. If Kolb beats Manuel out, fine. But if Manuel wins the job, you ride him for at least one unquestioned year, and for two or three if he shows anything at all. If it doesn't work out after that, you cut bait and move on. Just my opinion.

Thanks for the tip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IecoH4QZog

Interesting report from Senior Bowl practices: http://www.burntorangenation.com/football/2013/1/24/3912530/marquise-goodwin-senior-bowl-2013-nfl-draft-projections-texas-longhorns-football

You're a poet. That's exactly what it was like, except draft day is more fun than Christmas.

I think they will try to trade down and even take less than is standard to do so. But either way, whether at 8 or mid-round or even down at the end with San Fran's pick, I think they will take: EJ Manuel And I would be ecstatic about it. He's the only guy that really gets me excited about the future of the team. I've heard all the arguments for Nassib, and many of them make sense (not including the "familiarity" argument, which makes no sense to me - this is a 10 year project if it works - who cares if one guy takes a little longer to learn the offense?), but I'm just not feeling him. I'd be OK with Barkley too, but I don't think they are going that way.

Didn't they take Mike Williams at 4 and Dareus at 3?

Nice short write-up on him by Klosterman: http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/58506/in-memoriam-pat-summerall-1930-2013

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2013/04/15/deandre-hopkins-nfl-draft-many-tragedies/2086501/ Wow. I've been really intrigued by this kid. Would love to have him on the Bills.

http://www.sportsone...ticle/43586992/ Some of my favorites (there are many more): Bad body athlete, which ironically would make him the Adonis of draftniks. Completed 54-of-56 passes during his pro day passing drill, then successfully parallel parked on a street with no other cars. Uses his hands properly, a skill most of us master in kindergarten. When covering receivers, snaps his hips, swivels his torso and bifurcates his pelvis. Already has four children by five different mothers. Just completed his missionary work, or was a Canadian fireman for a few years, or did some other pro-social thing which will make for a wonderful feature biography in the local newspaper before he is cut on July 28 to get the training camp roster down to 144 players. Accelerates slowly but bursts quickly after closing on his initial velocity. Finds the soft spots in zone coverage, or as the real draft insiders call them, the fontanelles. Throws the football like a shotput, which is no big deal when he's really competitive and religious. Right? Right? Fundamentally sound tackler who misses too many tackles and does not always tackle correctly. Ran a 4.45 and a 4.54 unconfirmed (later confirmed as a 4.34 and 4.76) at his Pro Day after running a 4.73 and 4.37 at the combine, though the track at his pro day was notoriously fast, but there was a lot of wind that day and he was also getting over the flu at the Combine. Also, he's a punter. If he plays like he did in the highlight reel his stepbrother posted on YouTube, he will be special, and he will spend his whole life with "Take it to Da House" by Trick Daddy playing in the background.

That's exactly what I thought when I read it.

A detailed, slightly different, and very entertaining write-up on Nassib. (Sample: " Nassib is the Kristen Stewart of quarterback prospects. Many people see the face of a new generation, the gorgeous-and-talented centerpiece of a successful modern-day franchise. Others like me see a mumbly, intermittently-pretty person with an overbite who can barely emote.") http://miketanier.sportsonearthblog.com/draftathon-ryan-nassib-quarterback-syracuse/ Sorry if it was already posted.

It's my favorite sporting event of the year. By far. Opening day in the NFL is second. The Bills first preseason game is 3rd. I admit this all sounds very sad - surely a product of the fact that for the past decade plus the most excited you can get about the Bills is about the potential of their draft picks. If they were better, I imagine opening day would be first (or at least a close second). Oh, and I much prefer the old Saturday/Sunday format. But either way, I love the draft and watch every minute of it.

Great. We agree on that then. So I guess I don't understand what you mean by the "in your face BS" that you seem to object to so much. Coming out by telling people in your family/workplace/community that you are gay is simply a way of preparing people to start seeing you living your normal life with the partner of your choice (i.e., going out, being physically affectionate, etc.). It would be great if no one felt the need for such "preparation," but we're mostly not there yet.

Yeah, definitely, and I wish those hetero players (who have no self-loathing or narcissism or mommy or daddy issues, because those things are SO rare in human beings) would stop with all the in-your-face hetero stuff too - always kissing their wives and girlfriends in public and going out to dinner with them and thanking them in speeches and having wives days and wives clubs and starting charities with them and talking about their weddings and how much they love them and . . .These things have NOTHING to do with athleticism or football intelligence, so they should just keep their wives and girlfriends in a closet and keep their mouths shut about them and play ball.

The thing I love about Manuel is that he just seems to have presence. I don't get that feeling with any other QB in this draft. I know the Senior Bowl is a mirage of a football game, but he looked very cool, collected, and relaxed when he was out there (and it showed up in his "results"). No other QB looked like that. It may not mean much in terms of football acumen or ability, but it does mean something psychologically. That is a high pressure situation for these guys, even if it is not really a game. I see the same kind of presence when I watch videos of him. Anyway, just a feeling. I have no clue as to which of these guys will actually turn into something. Geno Smith is an intriguing cat. Barkley's got tons of experience. Wilson is a tough SOB. But something about Manuel really grabs me. I would not be disappointed at all if they grabbed him at 8.

Well that's depressing.

For those of you who, unlike me, actually know something about college ball, which of the QBs in this year's draft are best in the clutch? The clutch could mean 4th quarter, against the best teams, when they are behind, when they are on the road, against serious pass rush pressure, etc. To me that's the most important factor for a QB. I don't watch college football at all. So like many people I spend this time of year watching every YouTube clip and reading every blog/mock I can find. But I haven't been able to figure out which of these guys really bring it when life gets difficult. Smith, Barkley, Manuel, Nassib, Wilson, Bray, Scott, Jones, Glennon? Who's got sand?

This is so true. People always get riled up that the guy with the highest salary is not the best player, but it has never worked that way. It's all about timing. The guy with the highest salary is just the best player on the open market, not the best player overall. And the salary market is projective. Locking a guy up for 5 years at the highest salary now, means you are paying him much lower on the scale 3 or 4 years from now after salaries have risen, which, as you point out, they do at a pretty rapid rate. Five years from now, 20 million a year will be a baseline for all the decent QBs in the league. The superstars on the open market will be getting much more. (Unless of course the NFL starts declining, which will happen some day, but doesn't seem imminent.)

Couldn't agree more. This is what has driven me crazy about Jones for a couple of years. He just can't make plays in the air, and it seems like that's half the battle these days for any decent wide receiver in the league. He can get open, and he's tough. But if you can't time the long and or high ones and then outmuscle the DB for them with some aplomb, you aren't too useful lined up outside. Seems like a good guy, but I wouldn't be sorry to see him go.

I sincerely hope you're right too. I will say that Marrone does have a kind of confidence, or maybe in your word 'seasoning', that I like. I do think this seemed stronger in him than in Pettine, so I agree with you there. Pettine just really struck me in terms of how many rapid, coherent, complex, sure-footed sentences he seemed to string together. Hopefully they are both freaking geniuses - or at least football geniuses.

Sadly, I had the same impression as MarkKelso. I liked everything I heard and read about Marone and was comfortable with his background, but since listening to him (pc, interview, speech he gave when he signed on to the Orange) I've been anxiously trying to convince myself that he must be smarter than he sounds. I had the same feeling with Gregg Williams and to a slightly lesser extent with Mularkey. I think it's based on a few things: answering questions with vague generalities, not responding to the main point of a question (even if it is to deflect it), sentences that are slightly tortured syntactically, reliance on a kind of cliched bluster. Now everyone has said that Marone is actually bright and detailed in his analysis of a team, etc., so I'm hoping this impression is nothing more than my own bias. I just know when I've had this feeling before, no matter how much I've tried to talk myself out of it, the coach hasn't worked out. I think almost all of the best coaches are pretty well spoken. The reverse, of course, is not true. Many well spoken people are not great coaches. I thought Chan was actually pretty articulate (despite the heat he took for his accent). On the optimistic side, for me, Pettine sounded super smart, and Hackett reasonably so. Just my two cents.