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Bills' trade of Matt Cassel looks worse as EJ Manuel's struggles continue

Frank Schwab
·NFL writer

Because of a curious move by Buffalo Bills general manager Doug Whaley, the guy who should have been starting at quarterback for the Buffalo Bills was starting later on Sunday for the Dallas Cowboys instead.

EJ Manuel has been a bust. He was a 2013 first-round pick, had a decent start to his career, but it has gone downhill fast for him. He was benched after four games last season. The Bills didn’t even give him a shot to start in Week 17 even though they were out of the playoff race. And on Sunday, as Manuel started again for injured Tyrod Taylor, Manuel’s second-quarter meltdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars was hard to watch. His three rapid-fire turnovers put the Bills in a 27-3 hole. Buffalo rallied late, but ultimately lost 34-31.

Then why did the Bills trade Matt Cassel? Cassel will start for the Cowboys on Sunday, and he would have been the Bills’ best option Sunday. The Bills got almost nothing for Cassel. They sent Cassel and a seventh-round pick in 2017 for the Cowboys’ fifth-round pick in 2017. Considering where the Bills were when the undersized Tyrod Taylor went down with an injury, that two-round bump in the late rounds in two years hardly seems worth it. Cassel might not be great, but he would have been better at managing the offense and not giving the game away with turnovers than Manuel has been.

Whaley defended the decision this past week, saying he didn’t regret trading Cassel and mentioning that Manuel had a bigger upside and more "shelf life" because he was younger. But as it stands right now, it doesn't seem like Manuel is going to be in Buffalo for the long haul, not the way he's playing.

"When you look at it, coming out of camp, arguably you could say [Manue] was the No. 2. So we had the luxury of being able to come back with Cassel at a reduced rate and have three quarterbacks,” Whaley said this week, according to NFL.com. "If you look at the league, maybe a little over half the league have three quarterbacks, so it's a luxury. And then when [safety] Aaron [Williams] went down, we needed a spot -- and then the Cowboys called."

No matter the reasoning, it looks terrible now. Manuel didn't play well against the Cincinnati Bengals last week and his mistakes put the Bills way behind on Sunday.

Manuel’s issue is his accuracy. Even on his big play of the first half, a 29-yard pass to Chris Gragg, Gragg had a shot at a touchdown but Manuel threw so far behind a wide-open Gragg that he had to wait for it and was tackled. The Bills moved the ball no further and settled for a field goal.

Then Manuel really melted down. He was sacked, fumbled and it was returned for a touchdown. Then on Buffalo’s next play he threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown by linebacker Telvin Smith. Then later in the second quarter, linebacker Paul Posluszny picked off Manuel, setting up a T.J. Yeldon touchdown and a 27-3 Jaguars lead.

The Bills were down 27-13 at halftime for a few reasons, but the most obvious issue was that Manuel was not very good. Even on completions, Manuel’s receivers had to dive or jump because Manuel was off by several feet, even on throws that should have been routine. The Bills resisted benching Manuel, even with his massive struggles, because backup Josh Johnson was just signed less than two weeks ago. Manuel did rally a bit late in the first half, hitting Robert Woods for a touchdown just before the two-minute warning in the first half.

The Bills used a first-round pick on Manuel a few years ago. It’s clear he wasn’t worth that. Instead of admitting the mistake and moving on, they moved on from Cassel for almost nothing instead. That decision might ultimately cost them a playoff spot.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!