National Football League

EJ Manuel: This NFL stuff is easy

Published May. 20, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

When the Bills shocked pretty much everybody and traded back to select Florida State QB EJ Manuel with the 16th overall pick, the immediate question was almost universal:

Can he harness his raw talent to succeed in the NFL?

Well, so far so good — if you ask Manuel.

According to ESPN.com, Manuel said during an NFL Radio interview on Sunday that, "The funny thing is (the Buffalo offense is) easier to learn than the offense I had at Florida State. It's a true West Coast-type progression offense. That's really what I wanted when I was coming through the pre-draft process. I wanted something that I could just go in and say 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, check it down and run it. That's it, it's that simple. I love it."

Asked whether that easy understanding has translated to success on the practice field, again, Manuel wasn't hurting for confidence.

"I've done great," ESPN reported he said in the radio interview. "The learning curve for me is a lot shorter simply because of what I had at Florida State. [The Seminoles' offense is] more complex and a little bit harder to catch on and learn. This offense is very simple. I've done a great job with it."

Manuel is expected to compete with Kevin Kolb and Tarvaris Jackson for the starting job after the Bills made him the only QB selected in the first round of last month's draft.