Consensus on Johnny Manziel

The only consensus on Manziel is that he's exciting.

Ron Jaworski and Warren Moon seem to be the biggest detractors worth listening to.

After watching five games, Jaws said he wouldn't draft Manziel before the fourth round, then stood by it for awhile.  After Manziel's Pro Day, he moved him into the third round.

Jaws was criticized for this, but the criticism was deliberately ignorant.  Jaws wanted to see the ball come out of his hand, and if he could hit every part of the field, and he did.  So Jaws gave him a modest promotion.  Big freaking deal.

In the most recent Jaworski analysis I've found, he had Manziel ranked third in the class, ahead of Bridgewater, and I'm guessing behind Bortles and Carr.

He got bashed for that, but he never said he thought any of these quarterbacks were anything special.

Now, Warren Moon went into more detail: He said that what made Manziel special was his ability to improvise.  But in the NFL, regardless of the system, he'd have to play in a structure--and how good could he be then?

This is why I cooled on Manziel myself.  If you remember Warren Moon, he was a superior athlete himself, and speaks from experience.

Gil Brandt is kind of on the other side of it.  Gil almost rants about his psychological and white board tests.  He read and diagnosed every defense.  Every called for check-with-me call, primary, hot read, check-down etc. in sequence.

No QB in history has out-done him mentally, including Luck and Manning.

Gil (and most others) say that his leadership is innate and instinctive.  He thrives on adversity.  He's who you look to when the building is burning down around you.

I don't think Jaws looked at this.  Jaworski probably found mistakes he'd made, and didn't like his mechanics.  He might not even have considered the other intangibles.  "He completely overlooks this guy here, and throws it here instead".  "He got lucky with that one.  He just threw it up there".

And I stipulate here that Jaws is always right about this stuff.  

Roger Staubach is a third ex-QB who weighed in on Manziel.  He loves him.  He says he'll succeed.  And it's Texas A and M, so Roger probably saw all his games.

I think it might have been Bill Parcells, (who seemed carefully neutral on Manziel), who pointed out that picking at his mechanics was a little silly.  He has rare balance and body control, and can throw accurately (and all-arm) from any position.  Elway couldn't do this as well as him.  Tarkenton could.  Montana could.  Marino, Kelly, Manning, Brady, and most of the rest can't.

This is why there is one model for throwing mechanics--so that normal guys can get better at it.  But Manziel isn't a normal guy.  When he can stand and deliver, his mechanics are fine, but when he's flushed and running for his life or being tackled, his mechanics are flawed...except he still hits where he aims, so who tf cares?

But Jaws and Moon are making good points: Manziel is not yet a franchise quarterback.

As Pat Kirwan, (who expects Manziel to be the opening day starter over that bumb Hoyer), pointed out to Joe Namath, Manziel only started 24 college games.

Namath said he thinks Manziel was "spectacular".  He said he was very smart--"at least football smart", and would be a winner.

"Of course, I don't know if he'll start right away, out of respect for Hoyer"  THANK YOU JOE!  PAT WERE YOU LISTENING?

The kid needs refinement.  As Pat would tell you (were anybody but Hoyer the current quarterback), he should ideally sit for a season.  Pat thinks all juniors should.  Except now.  Partly because it's the Browns, so who cares?

Pat is a big Steeler fan, though he tries a little to hide it.  He annually picks them for first in the division or a playoff spot, no matter how many holes they have, or how old they get.  The fact that he's been wrong for the past two seasons will only convince him that they're overdue.  Again.

When talking about Andre Johnson, he once again dismissed the Browns as suitors: "They don't fit his criteria"--subject closed.  Pat has already made up his mind that the '14 Browns will be losers again, no matter what.

Made up his mind last season.

No matter what.