One year ago Eastern Illinois quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo became a draft darling after impressing at the East-West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl. He ended up going in the second round to the New England Patriots. I got a chance to watch in person and sit down and interview the man who replaced him: Andrew Manley. Manley has an interesting back-story. He previously played at New Mexico State and then transferred to Eastern Illinois. He’s had a different offensive coordinator (with a different scheme) each year and three different head coaches on top of it. It hasn’t been an easy path for the young quarterback from Hawaii.

Manley is all about his family and unfortunately he lost his brother Kimo Pono Manley, II in early February. Andrew is a talented, charismatic guy who is easy to root for. He has all the ability and could be an absolute steal for a team willing to give him a chance.

Positives:

– Good footwork. Active, controlled feet in the pocket

– Has good, not great size

– Great pocket awareness. Calm and collected in the pocket

– Puts good touch on the ball

– Judicious runner who can get a first down and sometimes the TD when necessary

– Good but not elite arm strength

– Excellent short and intermediate accuracy

– Gets the ball out quick

Negatives:

– Not athletic enough to be considered a true dual-threat quarterback

– Took a lot of snaps from shotgun. Need to see him more under center

– Level of competition wasn’t off the charts

– Didn’t see a ton of deep passes from him. Unsure of deep ball accuracy

NFL Comparison: A cross between Matt Stafford and Matt Schaub (before he went off the rails)