There’s plenty of ‘what if’ type of scenarios for all professional sports franchises. When you’re a team like the Bills, which has endured some tough blows in their team history, there might be a couple.
But here’s a thought in regard to some recent Bills memory: What if Ryan Fitzpatrick was kept around to be EJ Manuel’s mentor?
Fitzpatrick recently appeared on the podcast run by his former teammate, Eric Wood, the What’s Next? Podcast With Eric Wood. Both parties reflected on their time together in Buffalo, and both agreed they thought the team did the wrong thing in this exact scenario.
“I know it was me in the situation… I have zero ego and… I don’t think it was the right move to get rid of me,” Fitzpatrick said.
The 2012 season was Fitzpatrick’s last with the team. After that year, the club decided to move in a different direction and fired head coach Chan Gailey. Then the Bills moved on from Fitzpatrick, cutting him and later drafting Manuel in the first round of the 2013 draft.
In 2011, Fitzpatrick got off to a hot start and landed a six-year, $59 million extension, with $10 million guaranteed. Fitzpatrick said he always will look back and have positive thoughts about his time in Buffalo, but he can’t help but think there was no reason for him to be let go, even if Manuel was drafted.
“To totally blow the thing up and say, ‘Let’s draft EJ Manuel in the first round’… No offense to EJ at all, but… to throw a young guy in there, and see what happens, and maybe a Kevin Kolb, was there or whoever [else]… I think I was a good fit for that situation, what they wanted to do,” Fitzpatrick said.
Oddly enough, that role Fitzpatrick is referencing is the exact one he’s going to play in 2020 with the Miami Dolphins. The Fins selected Tua Tagovailoa with the No. 5 overall pick at the recent draft. Fitzpatrick discussed on the podcast that he’s hoping to start, but no matter what happens, he’s looking forward to being a mentor.
But as referenced, Wood weighed in as well. The former longtime center for the Bills said he hears folks say he’s biased toward club that he spent his entire pro career with, however, Wood said he thinks the Bills got this one wrong.
“I rarely ever speak out against Buffalo Bills moves from the past, you know, it is what it is, but that is something, at that time, I was against, and I still am against. Because even if you want to move on from the quarterback position…. even if you move Fitz into a transition role or you’re going to draft a rookie quarterback, we’re already on the rookie wage scale. So these rookie quarterbacks are not going to make that much money, and so your combine salaries are still going to be below league average,” Wood said.
“You have a guy who could mentor your next guy coming in, or, let Fitz play, let the other guy come up, and let them compete and see who takes it. I was against it at the time and I still am against it,” Wood added.
Instead, the Bills went with Kolb and Manuel. Kolb was supposed to start for Buffalo until he infamously was hurt in training camp when he slipped coming onto the field and that was that. Manuel was up-and-down as a rookie in that first season, but eventually was injured. The ensuing season saw him lose his starting job after only four games and a 2-2 record to Kyle Orton.
Thankfully the road finally led the Bills to two playoff berths in the past three seasons, but there certainly is a big question here. What if Fitzpatrick was there to mentor Manuel? Could things have been different? An answer we’ll never know.
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