Kolb vs Manuel

The next piece in my quarterback controversy series is the Buffalo Bills' dilemma. In one corner, you have Kevin Kolb who was signed to a 2 year contract for short money considering he has the potential to be their starter this season, he is to get 1.65 million for the 2013 season.  He has been able to make some considerable money off of a few good starts for the Philadelphia Eagles, which seemed like an eternity ago, and has somehow still considered a viable NFL starter by a few front office guys as well as head coaches.  As bad as he has been portrayed to have done since getting a monster contract, he was 4-2 in his starts last year with Arizona, which also seems to be missed by the many naysayers in the media and elsewhere, so maybe we are missing something about this guy.

Did I mention that he is really athletic

In the other corner, we have EJ Manuel, a Florida State guy who possesses a strong arm and ran a 4.59 forty and he is by no means a small guy as he is much more like Cam Newton at 6'5", 240 pounds.  The Bills sent a strong message by going out of their way to pick him with the 16th overall pick.  In my opinion, this was way too early even if you really liked him, because it did not seem that anybody was going to take him ahead of Geno Smith, Matt Barkley and Ryan Nassib.  They should have either traded down to take him, while gathering more picks or took him in the next round where even if they had to trade up to get him, I could have got behind that.  They left money on the table as they say.  Despite all of this, he is a quarterback that has been studying since being drafted and has kept himself out of the media for the most part.

This battle is going to be won by EJ Manuel.  He will be their opening day starter as there is no need for him not to be.  I think that unless Kolb outplays Manuel by a ton during camp and preseason, it is Manuel's job to lose.  It will be somewhat close, but I think EJ will beat him outright.  If it is close and public opinion has Kolb barely beating him out, they will still most likely make EJ the starter as money is not an issue in this case as Kolb's salary is minimal.  The Bills' organization obviously likes Manuel after taking him as early as they did, so why not hand over the reigns now.  Nobody in Buffalo is clamoring over the idea of Kolb taking them to the promised land, so putting up billboards with the likes of EJ Manuel, might get the people of Buffalo talking.