Monday, April 28, 2014

Why I am off the Johnny Manziel Bandwagon

When Johnny won the Heisman trophy in his freshman year I thought he would be a good NFL Pro, when he declared for the NFL draft I was still on board the bandwagon, after his “impressive” pro day I was still on board, but after that I decided to dig a little deeper and watch some more tape. After a close look I hurled myself off the bandwagon faster then he leaves the pocket. I am not going to say he is too small or his off the field partying are giant red flags, while they are a piece of the puzzle; I am going to go a little deeper. Johnny plays like no quarterback I have ever seen, in a very bad way. He runs around like a chicken with no head and misses on open receivers all the time in favor of running. He never throws the ball away and instead attempts ridiculous runs with no ball security what so ever. When he does pass it is outside the pocket and he never has his feet set resulting on over reliance of his receivers. He is super reckless and in 2 years at Texas A&M he was sacked 41 times with All American Luke Joeckel for one year and All American Jake Mathews for 2 years.

While people compare his play to Russell Wilson, Brett Farve, Frank Tarkenton, Michael Vick, and Roger Staubach he is nothing like any of them. Wilson, Tarkenton, and Staubach made throws set in the pocket on a regular basis and when they ran it was to buy time to make a pass. When they passed they set their feet and threw and accurate ball and if they ran they slid or ran out of bounds. Farve was a bit more reckless like Manziel but he was bigger and still made most of his throws from the pocket. Lastly in his prime Vick was the fastest man on the field and you can’t say that about Manziel.

While I am very harsh on Manziel I 100% believe Manziel has all the tools to become a success in the NFL. This is if he learns to play more like Russell Wilson, but I don’t think he will. Also his size doesn't help his type of play, especially when every player in the NFL is bigger, stronger, and faster than in college. His party life style doesn't help his chances as a franchise leader who is expected to work hard either. Similar to Tim Tebow he worked extremely well in college, but his style of play is not successful in the pros. He may have a good rookie season because the NFL hasn't seen tape on him but he will not have a good career. Johnny Football, more like Johnny Bust.

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