Johnny Manziel texted Browns coach to draft him

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel sat in the green room and waited for the second half of the first round till the Cleveland Browns drafted him with the 22nd overall pick. The Browns traded up from the No. 26 pick to make that happen.

Surely they were motivated by the prospect of getting a top level quarterback, but they might have been motivated by Manziel himself. In a radio interview on Thursday, Cleveland Browns quarterbacks coach Dowell Loggains shared a story about texting Manziel during the draft and him suggesting, pleading even, the Browns to trade up to get him.

As transcribed by the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

“We’re sitting there and they keep showing Johnny on T.V. and Johnny and I are texting and he shoots me a text and he says, ‘I wish you guys would come get me. Hurry up and draft me because I want to be there. I want to wreck this league together.’

“When I got that text, I forwarded it to the owner and to the head coach (Mike Pettine). I’m like ‘this guy wants to be here. He wants to be part of it.’ As soon as that happened, Mr. Haslam said, ‘pull the trigger. We’re trading up to go get this guy.” ‘

That last bit about owner Jimmy Haslam saying “pull the trigger” is interesting because there were reports that he was the reason the Browns drafted Manziel instead of Teddy Bridgewater. There were even reports that the Browns had a card with Bridgewater’s name on it and changed it at the last second at Haslam’s ordering.

Well Bridgewater has since come out and said he didn’t want to play in Cleveland anyways, so it worked out for all parties involved.