The 2013 NFL Draft was not the time to be a QB-needy team and unfortunately, the Buffalo Bills were. It turned out to be one of the worst QB classes in recent memory and the only notable quarterback that is still going strong is Geno Smith, who fell out of the first round and yet it took him landing in Seattle a couple of years ago to finally get his major break. Now he is in Las Vegas with Pete Carroll, hoping to keep his career going strong.
Going into the 2013 draft, the Bills were in a major need to find their franchise guy after moving off of Ryan Fitzpatrick. However, this specific quarterback class was not promising and you could make the argument that no quarterback should’ve been drafted in the first round. However, after trading back in the first round from No. 8 to No. 16 (and acquiring more draft picks), the Bills decided to draft quarterback EJ Manuel out of Florida State.
Manuel and Buffalo were not the perfect match and it showed after Manuel’s rookie season. Even as a rookie, Manuel went 4-6 as a starter, throwing for 1,972 yards and 11 touchdowns to 9 interceptions. After 2013, Manuel never started more than 4 games in a season and had no more than 5 passing touchdowns in a season.
With his lack of performance on the field, Manuel’s time in Buffalo is considered one of the worst in recent memory and he would only play one season in the NFL outside of Buffalo with the Raiders back when they were in Oakland. Overall, it was a bad match for the Bills and Manuel, and sometimes it would’ve been nice to see a different outcome than what Bills fans had to endure with the Manuel pick.
PFF 2013 redraft has Bills taking a much better option in first round
Max Chadwick, Dalton Wasserman, and Trevor Sikkema from Pro Football Focus (PFF) recently put together a 2013 NFL redraft based on the production from the players drafted that year and all three writers have the Bills sticking at their original No. 8 overall pick and selecting wide receiver Adam Thielen, who originally was undrafted coming out of Minnesota State.
"Thielen was the ultimate underdog as a little-known player from Minnesota State who made his name with his hometown Vikings. He has racked up more than 8,600 receiving yards, including postseason play, with two Pro Bowl selections. His 90.2 career PFF receiving grade trails only Doug Baldwin and Wes Welker for the highest figure by an undrafted wide receiver in the PFF era."Chadwick, Wassermann, Sikkema, PFF
Going undrafted in 2013, Thielen managed to earn a spot on the Vikings’ roster and officially got onto the final 53-man roster in 2014. From there on, he became a big fan-favorite in Minnesota. He ended up being a two-time Pro Bowler and had two consecutive seasons of 1,000+ receiving yards (2017-2018) and two consecutive seasons of 10+ receiving touchdowns (2020-2021).
Granted, Thielen may not have had as much success in Buffalo as he did with Minnesota. However, if Thielen was a member of the Bills by the time Josh Allen was drafted in 2018, who knows how things may have turned out.