Texans head coach Bill O’Brien on Johnny Manziel: Less about height than it is how he’s built

Even before Bill O’Brien was hired away from the Penn State Nittany Lions to replace Gary Kubiak, there was a lot of speculation that the Houston Texans might want to take a chance on a new franchise quarterback in this May’s NFL Draft with that first overall pick they own. Once the quarterback guru was officially hired, that talk grew even further, and O’Brien got a chance to address a bit of that Friday at the NFL Scouting Combine.

In particular, he addressed one prospect and that was former Texas A&M Aggies star–and 2012 Heisman Trophy winner–Johnny Manziel.

As far as tools are concerned, Manziel isn’t really the traditional O’Brien protege. Part of that has to do with his size, which O’Brien did talk about. However, it’s not his height that’s the biggest concern as some people think, rather it’s the amount of pounds he needs to pack on.

Friday morning, Manziel actually came in shorter than advertised at 5-11, but he also only weighed in at 207 pounds, leading some to be more concerned about his durability, possibly even O’Brien as well as he makes his decision on who he ultimately wants to take with that first pick.