Getty Images The Chiefs announced the signings of four free agents, including quarterback E.J. Manuel. They also signed receivers Sammie Coates and Davon Grayson and defensive back Dontae Johnson. Manuel, 28, has not played an NFL game since 2017. The Raiders cut him out of the preseason in 2018. A former first-round choice of the Bills, Manuel has appeared in 30 games with 18 starts. He is 6-12 with a 58.1 completion percentage, 3,767 yards, 20 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. He becomes the fourth quarterback under contract, joining Patrick Mahomes, Chad Henne and Chase Litton. Coates is a former third-round pick of the Steelers. He played 12 games with the Texans last season before they cut him Dec. 19. Johnson is a former fourth-round pick of the 49ers. He played one game for the Bills last season after appearing in 63 games with San Francisco over four seasons.<doc-sep>E.J. Manuel is officially a member of the Kansas City Chiefs. The team announced Friday night that they’d signed the former Florida State star quarterback, who has previously played for the Bills and Raiders. (RELATED: Raiders Could Draft A Quarterback And Not Trade Derek Carr) We have signed the following free agents: WR Sammie Coates WR Davon Grayson DB Dontae Johnson QB E.J. Manuel pic.twitter.com/vayDSH1OLA — Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) February 22, 2019 Well, I guess Manuel’s career isn’t over just yet. It’s amazing how much hype he had coming out of FSU, and it didn’t materialize at all in the NFL. He went in the first round of the 2013 draft, and hasn’t done much at all. He’s thrown for a grand total of 20 touchdowns to 16 interceptions since entering the league. Now, he’s a backup for Patrick Mahomes. View this post on Instagram A post shared by EJ Manuel (@ejmanuel3) on Nov 4, 2018 at 2:55am PST As of right now, there’s no doubt that Manuel has been a gigantic bust on every single level. Quarterbacks picked in the first round are expected to produce a lot more than 20 touchdowns over several years. Luckily for him, he’s still made nearly $10 million over the course of his NFL career. It’s just crazy to me how a guy who had so much hype out of college and appeared to have all the necessary skills didn’t do anything at the next level. Manuel was truly a gunslinger for the Seminoles. I suggest he save as much money as he can because his career could be over at any moment at this point. Follow David Hookstead on Twitter<doc-sep>The KC Chiefs made a move on Friday night, bringing in quarterback EJ Manuel. The signing means that Chad Henne winning the backup quarterback job in 2019 isn’t necessarily a given. Chiefs Kingdom used to obsess about the backup quarterback a lot. That all changes when your team has the reigning MVP at quarterback though. Even with a star at quarterback, the Kansas City Chiefs have proven that they’re continuing to invest at the backup spot, already having Chad Henne on their roster and recently signing EJ Manuel to compete against him for a job. Patrick Mahomes is the starter no matter what happens, but if (knock on wood please) something happens and he can’t play, then the Chiefs need a viable backup to be able to come in and win games for them. We didn’t see much of Chad Henne last year. In fact, the ten-year NFL veteran didn’t see the field until week 17 when he completed two passes for 29 yards. Henne is experienced in the league and he’s signed for another season, so many probably assumed he’d be a sure thing to win the backup job in 2019. The Chiefs have signed former Bills QB EJ Manuel. Some competition to back up MVP Mahomes. — Field Yates (@FieldYates) February 22, 2019 Bringing in Manuel isn’t a bad move by any means, but will it lead to anything? That’ll be something we’ll all be keeping our eyes on this spring and summer. Manuel was a first round pick by the Bills in 2013 (the same year in which the Chiefs had the first overall pick and could have taken Manuel had they been desperate enough at quarterback) and spent the first four years of his career there. His time in Buffalo was underwhelming and the organization parted ways with him at the end of his rookie deal. Manuel spent the last two seasons in Oakland and appeared in two games in 2017, throwing for 265 yards, one touchdown, and one pick. That was the last time we saw the former Florida State signal caller in action during the regular season. Chad Henne more than likely will hold onto the backup job for 2019, but EJ Manuel is a former starter and could give him a run for his money. KC also has Chase Litton on their roster, but he was a rookie last season and spent the entire year on the practice squad. It’s doubtful that Litton jumps both Henne and Manuel on the depth chart. While signing a quarterback always makes headlines, EJ Manuel might not ever see the field for the KC Chiefs. Remember a few years ago when the team brought in Terrelle Pryor? We spent time speculating about what it meant for the quarterback position and Pryor was cut not long after. Want your voice heard? Join the KC Kingdom team! Write for us! Henne is the better backup between the two, but Manuel is a cheaper option. Perhaps that comes into play or the Chiefs simply brought him in to have another body for camp this summer. We’ll see how everything plays out in the coming months!<doc-sep>The Kansas City Chiefs announced the signing of four players Friday afternoon, with one of them being former first-round quarterback selection EJ Manuel. Others to sign with the Chiefs include wide receiver Sammie Coates, wide receiver Davon Grayson, and cornerback Dontae Johnson. In Coates, Johnson and Manuel, the Chiefs are bringing in veteran depth at their respective positions, while in Grayson they're bringing back a young prospect who had a brief stay in Kansas City last year. Here's a quick look at each player. * Sammie Coates: Coates (6-1, 210; age: 25) joined the league in 2015 as a third-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers out of Auburn. A player with good size and deep threat potential, Coates played in 20 games with Pittsburgh, starting five, and totaled 22 catches for 446 yards and two touchdowns. In 2017 the Steelers traded Coates to the Cleveland Browns, for whom he had six catches for 70 yards in 12 games. Coates played with the Texans in 2018 (one catch for 12 yards in 12 games) after being released by the Browns last March. * Davon Grayson: Grayson (6-1, 199; age: 23) was with the Chiefs for a brief time in May of 2018 as an undrafted rookie signing. He played in 36 games in college at East Carolina, totaling 135 catches for 1,767 yards and 13 touchdowns. At the NFL Scouting Combine in 2018, Grayson was timed at 4.51 seconds in the 40-yard dash, put up 19 bench press reps of 225 pounds, and posted a vertical jump of 34.5 inches and a broad jump of 124 inches. * Dontae Johnson: Johnson (6-2, 200; age: 27) joined the NFL in 2014 as a fourth-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL Draft. He played in 63 games with the 49ers and totaled 158 tackles, 21 passes defensed and two interceptions, both of them returned for touchdowns. Johnson started 16 games for the 49ers in 2017 and totaled 77 tackles and seven passes defensed but failed to stick with a team last season. Johnson began the 2018 season on injured reserve (groin) with the Seattle Seahawks, then had brief stints with the Buffalo Bills and Arizona Cardinals later in the year. * EJ Manuel: Manuel (6-4, 237; age: 28) was a first-round draft pick of the Buffalo Bills in 2013 out of Florida State, but his career didn't pan out there and he wound up with the Oakland Raiders in 2017. Manuel has appeared in 30 NFL games, starting 18, and has a career record of 6-12 with 3,767 yards, 20 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions with a completion percentage of 58.1. The Raiders released Manuel early in September of 2018 after trading for AJ McCarron. Coates and Grayson add some depth to a wide receiver corps that at the moment has Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, Marcus Kemp, Demarcus Robinson, Gehrig Dieter, Josh Crockett, and Byron Pringle under contract for the 2019 season. Johnson brings experience to a cornerback group that has Kendall Fuller, Charvarius Ward, Tremon Smith, and D'Montre Wade under contract for 2019, while Manuel will come in as the fourth quarterback behind Patrick Mahomes, Chad Henne, and Chase Litton.<doc-sep>
The Kansas City Chiefs have signed quarterback EJ Manuel, the team announced via a tweet from their official social media account early Friday evening. The team also announced the signing of three other players. We have signed the following free agents: WR Sammie Coates WR Davon Grayson DB Dontae Johnson QB E.J. Manuel pic.twitter.com/vayDSH1OLA — Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) February 22, 2019 Manuel, 28, is a former 16th-overall pick, originally selected by the Buffalo Bills in the 2013 NFL Draft. Manuel spent five years in Buffalo before moving on to the Oakland Raiders for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Manuel has a 6-12 record over 18 career starts and a 77.1 career passer rating. Sammie Coates is a 25-year-old wide receiver who originally entered the league as a third-round pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2015 NFL Draft. After two years in Pittsburgh, Coates was traded to the Cleveland Browns, who eventually released him in March of 2018. Coates had just one catch for the Houston Texans in 2018 before his release by them in December. Coates’ best year was in 2016 when he had 21 catches for 435 yards and two touchdowns. Davon Grayson is a wide receiver who played college football at East Carolina. The Chiefs signed Grayson in May of 2018, but he was eventually waived only 12 days later due to injury. Per his NFL.com draft profile, via Lance Zierlein, “Grayson flashed intriguing ball skills and competitiveness on his 2017 tape.” Grayson missed the entire 2016 season with a back issue, but bounced back in 2017 for 59 receptions, 886 yards and six touchdowns. The Chiefs’ signings of Coates and Grayson indicate the team creating some healthy, cheap competition at the wide receiver position this offseason. Chris Conley is due to become an unrestricted free agent, and the Chiefs don’t have much cap space to spare. Dontae Johnson is a 27-year-old, 6-foot-2, 200-pound defensive back who was originally selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. Johnson spent 2014-17 with the San Francisco 49ers before bouncing from the Seattle Seahawks to the Buffalo Bills to the Arizona Cardinals in 2018. Getting production out of Johnson looks to be the first project on the docket for Sam Madison, the first-time pro defensive backs coach who will be focusing on the cornerbacks for the Chiefs. Johnson has 145 career tackles (124 solo).