JON MACHOTA'S BLOG: Manningham, Mallett and Arrington made right moves to leave

The decisions by Mario Manningham, Adrian Arrington and Ryan Mallett to hang up their winged helmets and move forward in their football careers were the smart ones.

And who deserves the most credit for these decisions? Rich Rodriguez’s spread-option offense.

Catching a break

Manningham and Arrington have been two important pieces in the Wolverines’ offense the last two seasons when they caught 37 of Michigan’s 47 receiving touchdowns. This past season they combined for 139 catches and over 2,000 yards. Not bad for a team not named Hawaii or Texas Tech.

Manningham had a couple of costly drops in the Ohio State game that had critics saying he should return and build his draft status.

Arrington had back-to-back solid seasons, but isn’t at the talent level of Manningham.

But both will leave Ann Arbor and for good reason.

• This year’s class of wide receivers entering the NFL Draft is so mediocre, compared to some of the past classes, that even the Lions will not draft one in the first round. (We hope.) DeSean Jackson (California), Limas Sweed (Texas), Early Doucet (LSU) and Malcolm Kelly (Oklahoma) are good. But Manningham and Arrington can easily compete with them. Manningham is currently projected as a late first-round, early second-round pick and Arrington probably will not go too many rounds later.

• Arrington had a Capital One Bowl that would have any receiver thinking about a jump to the pro level (nine catches for 153 yards and two touchdowns against Florida).

• Rich Rodriquez’ spread-option does not put emphasis on great receiver play. So Manningham and Arrington’s stock is at its peak. NFL GMs’ opinions of them won’t change – and could be hurt – with another year in the Big House. Their numbers will not improve, they would risk chance of serious injury and the product on the field will not be better.

Throwing it away

Arrington and Manningham have another reason to leave – their pass-first, pro-style quarterback is gone. Mallet transferred to Arkansas to play under new head coach Bobby Petrino.

Ryan Mallett, 6-foot-6, does not fit the spread-option either. That offense is best suited for a mobile quarterback, not a pocket passer like Mallett. Sure Rodriquez says the offense can be adapted to other quarterbacks and that may be the truth. But as a sophomore, why should Mallett not find an offense that better suits his skills elsewhere?

After leaving the Atlanta Falcons 13 games into his professional head coaching career, Petrino has questionable character. But as a college coach he has had proven success with quarterbacks.

Petrino helped develop Jake Plummer at Arizona State and Brian Brohm at Louisville. Brian Brohm could be the first quarterback selected in this year’s NFL Draft. Rich Rodriguez hasn’t produced any NFL-worthy quarterbacks.

Mallett can fulfill his potential at Arkansas. Manningham and Arrington already have fulfilled theirs.

And they can all thank U-M’s new coach and his different offense.

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