For some, Johnny be not so good
INDIANAPOLIS — The geniuses or fools who select Johnny Manziel early in this year’s draft are destined for a decade filled with glory or shame. The lightning-rod Texas A&M quarterback is the ultimate highrisk, high-reward pick, a showman in cleats who will make a team look smart or clueless one day.
“His competitiveness is intriguing,” Jaguars general manager David Caldwell said at the NFL scouting combine.
Desperation may prompt teams to reach for a quarterback like Manziel, a reality in a pass-first league. Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater, Central Florida’s Blake Bortles and Manziel could be gone in the first five picks of the draft.
Although Manziel proclaimed Friday that he was “just looking forward to showing up all the people that say I’m just an improviser” and that his legendary partying days are over, he may simply not be polished enough to be an overnight hit in the NFL. He’s not alone, either.
“Rookie quarterbacks, as a whole, generally aren’t NFL ready,” Caldwell said. “You get the exceptions like Andrew Luck and Matt Ryan and Peyton Manning, but those are guys that spent four-five years at a university playing in a pro-style offense. That’s not the common thing right away for a rookie to come in and start.”
Plenty of teams have drafted quarterbacks early with the hope of resurrecting the franchise only to set it back even more. Four quarterbacks were selected in the top 12 in 2011. Only Cam Newton, the pick that year by the Panthers, has worked out. The Titans, Jaguars and Vikings whiffed when Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert and Christian Ponder, respectively, didn’t live up to the billing.
Caldwell, whose team has the No. 3 pick this year, is mindful of the recent past and shortcomings on his roster and realizes that none of the top three rated quarterbacks will be a panacea.
“The quarterback for us isn’t the end-all, be-all,” Caldwell said. “That’s not going to cure all of our issues. So we have to identify what we can take care of this year, what we can take care of next year and the following year. Stick to the plan.”
Manziel’s charisma may be hard to pass up for a quarterback-needy franchise. The Texans, who have the No. 1 pick, need an upgrade at the position. The Browns, who have had a revolving door at quarterback for 15 years, could use a dynamic signal-caller at No. 4. The Raiders are in play for a quarterback with the No. 5 pick.
Manziel has generated the type of predraft buzz that can be enticing for a struggling franchise.
“You have to be true to your evaluations of the film, the games, the practices, from a physical standpoint and not get caught up with all the buzz about players,” Steelers GM Kevin Colbert said. “A lot of times you’ve got to remove the emotion from all that: the hype. The hype is great. It helps make our game what it is, but when you’re evaluating, you try to remove that emotion and just really make a decision based on how the guy plays football.”
The danger, of course, is picking the wrong guy. The Seahawks and 49ers, arguably the two most complete teams in the league, selected starters Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick in the third and second rounds, respectively.
Manziel, Bridgewater and Bortles aren’t can’t-miss prospects, raising the question: Is it better to pass on a quarterback who may ultimately flourish or prematurely take one who may ultimately fail?
The Vikings, who have the No. 8 pick, are keeping an open mind.
“You have to be aggressive to go out there and try to find that guy,” Vikings GM Rick Spielman said. “Keep turning that wheel until you find one you hit on. Are we going to force a quarterback at No. 8? … If we feel strongly enough about a guy, we'll take him.”
Manziel’s measurables — he officially checked in at a quarter inch under 6 feet tall, though he said Friday, “I feel like I play like I’m 10 feet tall.” — may outweigh the intangibles that have turned him into one of the most entertaining, freelancing college quarterbacks of this generation.
He admittedly wants to be “a guy who can drop back and go through my progressions, go through my reads and really take what's given to me by the defense.”
The transition to the next level likely won’t be seamless.
The wise move for the league’s bottomfeeders may be to pass on Johnny Football.
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