I got distracted. And draft day came. And then it was gone. My post was now out-dated (although it should be noted that both Evans and Matthews were picked up before Manziel). I then thought I'd do a knee-jerk reaction to Manziel's selection (drafted too high, too low, to the right team, etc). But now the draft's over, and we've heard just about every analysis on the subject, so that would just be internet clutter (as if my blog is all that relevant on cyberspace to begin with).
At this point, I'm sick of Johnny Manziel, I'm sick of the NFL draft and I'm ready to move on. But if I just abandoned the whole Johnny Football post, I'd feel like Johnny Manziel sleeping in at the Manning Passing Academy. So here's three random thoughts on Johnny Manziel, and then we can move on to the NBA & NFL playoffs, as well as the peak of summer baseball.
Football Purgatory
In 2007, the Cleveland Browns selected QB Brady Quinn with the 22nd overall pick. In 2012, with the 22nd overall pick, they took QB Brandon Weeden. In 2014, blah, blah, blah, blah....I don't really get hung up on coincidental facts like that. But I do love the irony of how the cockiest guy in the draft ended up in the saddest city in America. I mean, look what it did to Quinn and Weeden...
If there's a plus side for Manziel to be in Cleveland, he'll probably be bored out of his mind, having less opportunities to do stuff like this, and maybe show up to practice on time instead:
The Scampering QB
Of all the cons listed in scouting reports, I'm a little surprised no one mentioned HOW this guy runs. Over the last two college football seasons, I feel like every time I saw a Manziel highlight run, I saw a little bit of this:
Notice the ball hanging out like a loaf of bread. It seems like half the time he was running on his tippy toes. Seriously, I can't remember a time I didn't see this pose every he took off to run. I'll admit, he's fast. He's even agile. He made a lot of good SEC defenders miss tackles. But this is the NFL. Runs like his don't go well in against the big boys.
When I saw Tim Tebow and Cam Newton in college, they just looked like guys who could run at the next level (I know Tebow is jobless right now, but he still ran like a beast). Manziel on the other hand, looks more like a majestic sprite than a running QB. If he tries to shake Clay Matthews with these kinds of "jukes," he'll either lose the football, be flattened like a pancake, or both...
Double the Pleasure
The Cleveland Browns are division rivals with my Pittsburgh Steelers. That means they get to play each other twice a year. For a guy known to miss practice and not study the playbook, it's going to be fun watching Manziel try to figure out Dick Lebeau's complex defense. He's never had to run from the likes of Troy Polomalu, Lawrence Timmons, and Jarvis Jones. It was a down year for the Steelers defensively last season, but the brownies shouldn't hope for lightning to strike twice. On September 7, the Browns and Steelers open the season against each other. Welcome to the NFL Johnny.
The brownies needed more press than wins.
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