2014 NFL Draft: Jerry Jones did not push for Johnny Manziel?
By Hayden Kane
Upon learning that the Dallas Cowboys passed on former Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel despite the fact that he was on the board when they selected with the no. 16 pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, you might have the following thought:
“Boy, the more reasonable people in that war room must have really worked hard to talk Jerry Jones out of that one.”
Not so, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com:
The #Cowboys talked about Johnny Manziel in their draft room. From what I’m told, owner Jerry Jones did not campaign much for him.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 9, 2014
Jones has insisted that the Cowboys have a new and renewed draft strategy from now on, and while the 2014 NFL Draft is still young, so far it looks like that is the case. The question is: can the Cowboys, among other teams, resist the temptation to trade back into the mix at the end of the first round to draft the sliding Manziel?
We will soon find out, but one thing is for sure: the story of the NFL Draft is being written, and it is the fall of Mr. Johnny Football. If I was a guy like Teddy Bridgewater, I might be inclined to find it fortuitous that I ended up in the same draft as Manziel.