Yes, this is definitely something that has occurred to me. In fact, I made a topic similar to yours back on the old forum (FFG Forum Archive).
After a couple answers, I got the impression that it was more-or-less okay as-is.
One of the main difficulties in using the talent is that you generally have to have 3 ranks to do much at Short range, or 2 ranks past Short range/for melee attacks. If you don’t dip into it enough, you don’t get enough benefit to justify the maneuver cost. When you’ve pumped it up a bit, you’ll be in a better position. However, you can quickly run out of space for the strain if you aren’t careful.
If you want to remove it as a Maneuver, I’d say that it takes 2 Strain at a base, +1 for each upgrade. So 3 Strain for 1 upgrade, 5 Strain for 3 upgrades.
Another option would be to make it a once per encounter incidental. That would probably actually increase its frequency of use, and makes it feel a bit more important.
I would not recommend that change for Bodyguard though. In fact, I’d be interested in seeing about rewriting Bodyguard to specifically effect a non-combatant character without maneuvers. Something like “select an ally in engaged range. Upgrade the difficulty of all attacks against them until they perform a combat check.” Strain up to ranks, and then it applies ongoing without constant “reupping.”
Personally, I would not change any of them. I think they are okay as-is. But I understand your concerns and share them, to a certain extent.