vikes wanted manziel

[King James]

It won't be long before Manziel gets charged for a couple of DUI's and showing up late to practice because he's hungover from the previous night. There is no doubt that he isn't a good football player but I think the off-field distractions will hurt him. He's made a lot of friends with big time rappers and NBA athletes. The same type of people who do nothing but party 24/7. Everywhere he goes hes going to attracted media attention. Glad the Vikings didn't end up with him. I don't think he's worth the risk.

[Hiccup]

Paul Allen specifically stated via text message before the 22nd pick occured that they were going to trade back up for Teddy Bridgewater. Heard it on KFAN post draft.

[Webbfann]

It won't be long before Manziel gets charged for a couple of DUI's and showing up late to practice because he's hungover from the previous night. There is no doubt that he isn't a good football player but I think the off-field distractions will hurt him. He's made a lot of friends with big time rappers and NBA athletes. The same type of people who do nothing but party 24/7. Everywhere he goes hes going to attracted media attention. Glad the Vikings didn't end up with him. I don't think he's worth the risk.

And you figured this out since Thursday? Well heck, at least you figured it out. Good riddance to him. I think he will make an initial splash and then flop anyway. I wouldn't want him even he succeeds.

[mosscarter]

he will either be great or horrible there can't be any in between when you name yourself "johnny football." losing josh gordon hurts more than people may think.

[Laserman]

maybe the question we should be asking is If the browns didn't take manziel at 22 who would have taken him before pick 40?

[dead_poet]

How it went down: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap200000 ... ul-qb-hunt

The Vikings had Johnny Manziel and Teddy Bridgewater on the same horizontal tier of their board, with Manziel slightly ahead -- technically, Manziel was No. 1 and Bridgewater was No. 2. Both were a bit of a stretch with the eighth pick, but both were worth more than the 40th pick, which was Minnesota's second selection. Minnesota categorized the quarterbacks in buckets, with Garoppolo viewed as worthy of being taken with that 40th pick and Savage viewed as a third-round consideration.

[mondry]

How it went down: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap200000 ... ul-qb-hunt

Interesting. FWIW, I'd rather have Bridgewater at #32 and only give a 4th than what it would have taken to get Manziel at #22. (Most likely the rest of our draft to beat what we KNOW Cleveland paid for him)

[Cliff]

It boils down to costing significantly less to move to 32 rather than 22. When you also consider that Bridgewater and Manziel weren’t drastically different on their board it doesn’t make sense to spend the extra picks to move up in my opinion.

I’m sure the Vikings wanted Clowney too … just not enough to spend what it would take to move up and get him.

[Texas Vike]

How it went down: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap200000 ... ul-qb-hunt

Thanks for posting this; great read. I would have been cool w/ either scenario. I like that we don't have to deal with all of the media attention that JFB brings. I saw the press conference that the Browns did for Manziel and Gilbert. It was really odd: there's Gilbert, the 9th overall pick, sitting next to Manziel, and he's asked like one question compared to 6 or 7 for JFB. It's not his fault, but man that's got to be annoying from Gilbert's perspective. That just comes with territory for Johnny, I suppose. I think he would have done better as a Viking than as a Brown.

[dead_poet]

Thanks for posting this; great read. I would have been cool w/ either scenario. I like that we don't have to deal with all of the media attention that JFB brings. I saw the press conference that the Browns did for Manziel and Gilbert. It was really odd: there's Gilbert, the 9th overall pick, sitting next to Manziel, and he's asked like one question compared to 6 or 7 for JFB. It's not his fault, but man that's got to be annoying from Gilbert's perspective. That just comes with territory for Johnny, I suppose. I think he would have done better as a Viking than as a Brown.

Especially when you consider that the Browns got word that Gordon will probably be suspended 8-16 games, not 24 hours after the Manziel pick. Only the Browns.

[Purple bruise]

It won't be long before Manziel gets charged for a couple of DUI's and showing up late to practice because he's hungover from the previous night. There is no doubt that he isn't a good football player but I think the off-field distractions will hurt him. He's made a lot of friends with big time rappers and NBA athletes. The same type of people who do nothing but party 24/7. Everywhere he goes hes going to attracted media attention. Glad the Vikings didn't end up with him. I don't think he's worth the risk.

Does he hava a history of drinking and getting into trouble with the law? When you stated, " There is no doubt that he ISN'T a good football player", you might want to re-word that.

[Webbfann]

OK, translate please. This could easily be interpreted as "the Vikings wanted Manziel more than Teddy" and clearly that's what the writer wants, but is that actually what it means?

And once again, what is his source and why is he not quoting it? Just a few sentences later he writes: "We put (all the quarterbacks) in specific categories," Spielman said. "We felt very strongly that both of them (Bridgewater and Manziel) were very good football players. We had strong feelings for both."

Now that is reliable information with a verifiable source.

[Mothman]

More on JFB vs. Teddy:

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/Brid ... 051314?t=2

... and from Peter King:

http://mmqb.si.com/2014/05/13/nfl-draft ... idgewater/

All I can tell you is this: I was in Minnesota last month. I spoke to GM Rick Spielman, whom I have known for a long time, and he was dubious about every quarterback in the draft. I spoke to another member of the organization, an influential one, who was similarly skeptical about the quarterbacks in the draft. They didn’t have a fervent belief in any one of them. They did like Manziel. They didn’t want to sell the farm for him.

When the Vikings spent private time with Manziel before the draft at dinner, coach Mike Zimmer was pointed and blunt (which is exactly what Zimmer is) with Manziel. At one point, Zimmer said to Manziel, “I’ve been waiting all my life for this chance. Can I trust you?’’ Manziel said yes. Manziel told Zimmer they would win Super Bowls together. Zimmer loved it. Zimmer wasn’t sure whether he trusted him totally, but he loved it, and he loved the confidence.

So the Vikings wanted Manziel. That is true. But did they want him enough to give the 40th pick in this draft and next year’s first-round pick as well? No. Can’t say that I blame them either.

More at the links.

[Texas Vike]

Thanks, Jim. Good reads, especially the Peter King one.

Edited to add:
There's going to be an extended comparison between Manziel and Bridgewater for years to come. The question "what if..." will always linger regarding that #22 pick. Manziel may bomb or he may dominate; same for Teddy. They're linked now; it's inevitable.

Adding to it all is that Teddy says he didn't want to go to CLE.

Then there's this:

On Monday, Browns coach Mike Pettine shot down a report that the team originally had Bridgewater's name on its draft card and switched it to Manziel's in the seconds before the pick was due.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10926 ... and-browns

[mondry]

So we made an offer but were never realistically going to get the pick. Even if Philly doesn't clean out the Browns another team would have beat our offer as well. But like I said before, I'd rather have Teddy at #32 only giving up a 4th than the boat load it would have taken to get Manziel at #22.

I know this will drive Moth crazy too but I think that is also a good picture of their value, if you ask me "you want Manziel at #22?" I'd say YEP! ask me if I want Bridgewater at #32 and I'd say "is Manziel gone? Okay yep!" haha. Simply because both guys to me have the potential to be the answer at QB so getting either of them at those picks is awesome.

Hopefully this is a scenario where both QB's end up being big time names. The new Brees / Brady, I think that'd be a fun dynamic over the next 10 years.