Manuel's teammate Tyrod Taylor (knee) may miss multiple games due to a sprained MCL, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports.

Manuel had a strong preseason and is an impressive athlete, but his straight-line speed (4.65 40) doesn't translate to the kind of running ability that has made Tyrod Taylor a top-10 option at quarterback. Even if Taylor misses time and Manuel plays reasonably well, the latter won't necessarily be an option outside of two-quarterback leagues. The Bills draw a tough Week 6 matchup with the Bengals.

With the expected trade of Matt Cassel to the Cowboys, Manuel will assume the No. 2 role for the Bills.

Truthfully, Manuel has enough experience and showed enough in the preseason to be a No. 2 guy, which is probably why the Bills dealt Cassel for what's expected to be a small haul. Tyrod Taylor has performed well through two games, so Manuel could conceivably spend the rest of the season on the bench anyway. But his value just went up.

Manuel is inactive for Sunday's game against the Colts, ESPN's Mike Rodak reports.

Manuel's inactive status Sunday, confirms that Matt Cassel will serve as the Bills No. 2 QB behind Tyrod Taylor this weekend.

Manuel is listed as the third quarterback on the Bills' latest depth chart, Joe Buscaglia of WKBW in Buffalo reports.

The Bills released Matt Cassel over the weekend, leaving Manuel as the unquestioned No. 2 behind Tyrod Taylor, but the team re-signed Cassel on Tuesday, and coach Rex Ryan clarified that Cassel will serve as Taylor's primary backup. Manuel, who opened the 2014 season as the starter, now faces an uphill battle to see the field in 2015. However, considering both Taylor and Cassel are relatively unproven, it wouldn't be a complete shock if Manuel ends up working his way into the mix at some point later in the year.

With the release of Matt Cassel, Manuel will now start the season as the Bills' No. 2 quarterback.

Manuel's career with the Bills was thought to be in jeopardy, but he won over Rex Ryan enough with some strong preseason play, enough that the Bills feel comfortable entering the 2015 season with two unproven quarterbacks. Tyrod Taylor is no sure thing, so Manuel is worth nabbing in very deep QB leagues.

According to Fox Sports' Jay Glazer, the Bills plan to go with Manuel's teammate Tyrod Taylor as their starting quarterback.

Manuel has elevated his game in recent weeks and frankly, has looked fantastic in the preseason. However, he's been running with the scout team in most practices and it may have been a case of being too late to the party. The team is saying it will keep three quarterbacks, but we'll have to see if that actually happens, and if so, whether Manuel or Matt Cassel is named the backup to Taylor.

Manuel completed seven of eight passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns in Saturday's 43-19 preseason win over the Steelers.

Manuel got the start and made it look easy, finishing with a perfect 158.3 passer rating on three drives. Of course, Tyrod Taylor, who seemingly led the QB competition before Saturday, had a similarly effective outing, completing 12 of 13 passes for 122 yards with a 20-yard rushing touchdown to boot. Manuel may have put his name back into the conversation with his excellent outing, but he's still probably an underdog to emerge with the starting job.

Manuel will start Saturday's preseason game against the Steelers, Conor Orr of NFL.com reports.

The competition for the starting job continues to look like an 'America's Got Talent' deal, as Manuel will be the third QB that coach Rex Ryan has used with the starters in preseason games. Manuel has looked good in limited preseason action, but he had his ups and downs in training camp and spent a lot of time with the scout team, behind Matt Cassel and Tyrod Taylor. You can look at this start as either, A) evidence that Manuel has sprung back into the race, or B) a last-ditch chance to prove he deserves a roster spot, where the Bills keep three quarterbacks all season.

While Manuel has looked good in limited preseason work and led the team to a comeback drive in Thursday's preseason win over Cleveland, he continues to practice almost exclusively with the backups, BuffaloBills.com reports.

Coach Rex Ryan hinted that things could change with Thursday's practice, but until there's some concrete movement in Manuel's practice slotting, he's still behind Matt Cassel and Tyrod Taylor. Saturday's preseason game against the Steelers remains critical for all three quarterbacks.

Manuel looked good in Saturday's practice, while coach Rex Ryan continues to imply he'll be keeping three quarterbacks to start the season, BuffaloBills.com reports. Said Ryan, "Well, all three of them are playing really well. So we've said from day one that we'd keep our best 53 in our opinion and regardless of the position. But clearly there you have three good quarterbacks so that's a high, high possibility."

Not dead yet. Manuel, while playing mostly with third stringers, performed well in Thursday's preseason win and has started to look a lot better in practice. We'll see if he can start getting some time with the first- or second-teamers, as the Buffalo quarterback situation may be even more murkier than it was back in an already murky spring.

Manuel completed 9-of-14 passes for 111 yards and one touchdown in Thursday's preseason win over the Browns.

Manuel played the entire second half Thursday and capped off a relatively good performance with a touchdown pass and go-ahead two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter. While Tyrod Taylor and Matt Cassel still lead him in the Bills' quarterback competition, Manuel has at least acquitted himself nicely through Buffalo's two preseason games thus far.

Manuel continued to work with the Bills' third-team offense on Sunday, ESPN's Mike Rodak reports.

Moreover, coach Rex Ryan relayed Sunday that Manuel will work with the Bills' third-team offense in Thursday's preseason game against the Browns. Meanwhile, Tyrod Taylor took first-team reps during Sunday's practice, while Matt Cassel worked with the second team.

Manuel completed 4-of-8 passes for 77 yards and a touchdown in Friday's preseason opener against the Panthers.

Manuel played for most of the second half but spent a lot of time handing the ball off. Three of his four incompletions came on drops and he connected with Deonte Thompson for a 51-yard touchdown. Despite the strong showing, Manuel probably didn't gain any ground, as Matt Cassel was solid and Tyrod Taylor impressed. Taylor will start the second preseason game, Chris Brown of Buffalobills.com reports.

Manuel appears to be falling behind in the Bills' quarterback competition, WGR 550 reports.

Matt Cassel, who will start Friday's preseason opener against the Panthers, has emerged as the favorite ahead of Manuel and Tyrod Taylor. Manuel has reportedly been wildly inaccurate in practice, and while he still has the preseason to make a good impression, he's in serious danger of winding up third on the depth chart.

Manuel is listed as a co-starter along with Matt Cassel and Tyrod Tyler on the Bills' initial depth chart.

For those with early drafts, the only thing worse than getting a guy from what could arguably be the worst QB situation is the league is having three names to choose from. Cassel is expected to get the start in the team's first preseason game this week, and is said to be slowly moving his way ahead of the other two guys. If you had to pick someone from this situation today (gasp), we'd say Cassel is your safest bet, which is probably the same reason Rex Ryan has him in the lead as well.

Manuel feels he has an advantage on the other quarterbacks he's competing with due to his familiarity with most of Buffalo's wide receivers, The Buffalo News reports. Said the third-year quarterback, "I feel that, you know I'm very close with all those guys. Especially Woody (Robert Woods), Sammy (Watkins), Marquise (Goodwin), (Chris) Hogan Guys who've been here since I've been here, so we've been working together a bunch and having that cohesiveness already. Because I know their speeds, I know how they run routes, I know what they like, I know where they like the ball and things like that, so it does give me somewhat of an advantage."

That's all well and good, but this is also a new Greg Roman offense so Manuel is going to have to prove quickly he can run it. Matt Cassel has been taking more first-team snaps than Manuel or Tyrod Taylor so far, but this truly looks like a three-horse race throughout the summer. If we had to call it right now while it's early, we'd say Cassel and Manuel are about even, while Taylor has some skills the new coaching staff could look to if one of the other two doesn't shine.

Manuel heads into the break until training camp with some nice momentum in the three-man quarterback race, BuffaloBills.com reports. Said coach Rex Ryan, "He has had some moments. I thought EJ did well, he threw the touchdown pass in the two minute. Kind of looked a little watered down there on defense, but it was good. It was great to see. He looked pretty good and he had some nice plays."

No one will doubt Manuel's athletic tools and big arm, but if he prove he can run Greg Roman's offense and look savvy running the two-minute drill while taking a step in his footwork, decision-making, and accuracy, he may enter training camp with a slight leg up on Matt Cassel and Tyrod Taylor. Manuel reportedly looked strong in almost all areas through this week's OTA practices.

Manuel gained 8-to-10 pounds in the offseason, The Buffalo News reports.

Manuel thinks some added muscle will help with durability, and he isn't too concerned about losing any speed. The Bills have an open QB competition that also includes Matt Cassel and Tyrod Taylor, with Taylor the underdog among the three. The Bills finally have an impressive collection of skill-position talent surrounding their quarterbacks, but the offensive line looks shaky.

Both Manuel and Matt Cassel took snaps with the starting offense at Tuesday's organized team activities, The Buffalo News reports. Coach Rex Ryan did have some nice things to say about Manuel: "The thing that stands out to me, it appears that EJ is getting a pretty good grasp of this system. He's believing in what he's seeing and he's letting it rip ... know what you're seeing, believe in it, be right and pull the trigger. Let it fly. And I think that's what we're trying to do with all of these quarterbacks. It seems like it was pretty sharp."

With a number of NFL teams, you can look at snap counts during OTAs to determine who's ahead in the position races. However, the Bills are using a concept where they run two offenses huddling simultaneously on separate fields, then depend more on film later. The team did say Tyrod Taylor would get some looks with the starters this week as well, though it does seem clear that Manuel and Cassel are the two frontrunners.

The Bills did not draft another quarterback, nor have they brought another one in after signing a handful of undrafted free agents Monday. That leaves the main competition for the starting job between Manuel and Matt Cassel, with Tyrod Taylor and Jeff Tuel seemingly looking like longer shots to compete.

For what it's worth, the Bills drafted two Florida State skill position players, which should give Manuel some more familiarity on offense as he tries to show he's progressed from an up-and-down first two seasons. Right now, we consider things close to a neck-and-neck race between the top two guys, each of whom brings vastly different offerings to Rex Ryan's new table. At least there's not another young fresh face added to the mix, one that may have gotten a number of followers off the Manuel bandwagon, a vehicle not as popular as it once was.