Buffalo Bills NFL Draft History: Re-Drafting the first round picks since 2010

Buffalo Bills 2013 First Round Pick: EJ Manuel

The Bills needed a QB at one of the worst times ever. The 2013 NFL Draft’s QB class may be one of the weakest we’ve seen all-time. The best one of the bunch? Mike Glennon? Geno Smith? Current Bills backup Matt Barkley? Crickets.

But Buffalo’s biggest problem here was the fact that it selected Manuel at No. 16 overall in a QB class that most considered subpar pre-draft. In 30 career games, Manuel had 20 TD passes, 16 INTs, 3,767 passing yards, a 58.1% completion percentage, and a 77.1 passer rating.

Manuel did show some promise in his rookie season. He had the Bills playing competitive football, as they were 2-2 through the first month of the year. But then came the Thursday night matchup in Cleveland where he sprained his knee. He would only miss four games due to this injury, but he seemed like a completely different player from there.

The biggest issue, though, is Manuel was brought in to be a savior with a middling team. It was unfair to him to think he could be that type of player when he was unable to beat Kyle Orton or Tyrod Taylor in QB competitions later on in his career.

Was this the right pick? 

Unequivocally no. The biggest issue is that Manuel was a first-rounder. Now if he goes after the first, maybe this pick doesn’t look as bad if he’s a second-, third-, or fourth-round selection.

This was a tough spot for the Bills overall, though. Still, while seeking out the team’s next Jim Kelly, Buffalo conceivably would have struggled with any of the QBs in this class. So even though they messed this up, the Bills were stuck between a rock and a hard place in 2013.

Who could the Buffalo Bills have taken?

Disregarding the QBs here, there was a litany of Pro Bowlers and All-Pro players selected after Manuel. That list includes Xavier Rhodes, Le’Veon Bell, Keenan Allen, Darius Slay, Terron Armstead, Zach Ertz, and Travis Frederick.

But four of the biggest standouts selected after Manuel were Travis Kelce, DeAndre Hopkins, Tyrann Mathieu, and David Bakhtiari. Kelce has established himself as one of the greatest receiving TEs in history, as he’s set numerous NFL TE records, including going for over 1,000 yards receiving in six-straight seasons.

Kelce also has the most 100-catch seasons by a TE (2) and he set a new single-season mark for receiving yards by a TE in 2020 (1,416).

Hopkins has also had a historic run throughout his career. The Clemson product has had six 1,000-yard campaigns since entering the league, four 100-catch seasons, he led the league in receiving TDs in 2017, and joined the 10,000 receiving yards club in 2020.

A former teammate of both Hopkins and Kelce, Mathieu has made a name for himself as well, joining Kelce and Hopkins as a fellow 2010s All-Decade selection. The Honey Badger is a four-time All-Pro (three-time first-team) and was just as much of a factor on Kansas City’s 2019 championship team as Kelce, Tyreek Hill, or Patrick Mahomes were.

Bakhtiari may have missed a ton of action due to injury in 2021, but he’s been arguably the best left tackle in football since 2016. From 2016 to 2020, the Colorado product was named an All-Pro in each season, including two first-team nods and three second-team nods.