The debates have raged ever since Johnny Manziel announced that he was going to be in the NFL Draft about which team should or would take him. There are a lot of people who believe that Manziel would be a great fit at No. 8 to the Minnesota Vikings. However, there are plenty of questions about Manziel that need to be answered before the Vikings should consider taking him if he is even available when the Vikings pick.
The first question that must be answered is what Manziel would think about the idea of playing in Minnesota. It is obvious that Manziel loves the spotlight and would prefer probably to go to a major market like New York. He is likely not going to get his wish with this especially since the teams ahead of Minnesota like St. Louis, Jacksonville and Cleveland aren’t New York or Los Angeles. Would Manziel go to Minnesota with a chip on his shoulder wanting to prove his doubters wrong? That is always possible. Here is what Manziel looked like on his pro day at Texas A&M.
A big thing to notice here is that Manziel is wearing shoulder pads and a helmet for the pro day. That would show that he is definitely interested in proving what he can do with the regular equipment on from the waist up. ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski had said before that Manziel shouldn’t be drafted in the first three rounds. He appeared to change his tune after the pro day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTsLYLbiSG8
The other thing that needs to be considered if what Manziel would be able to do in the winter winds of Minnesota. Can he get the ball down the field with authority? He did average over ten yards per attempt during eight different games in 2013. He didn’t get sacked much in college and will need to use his athletic ability to get out of a lot of different situations. Those are all things that must be thought about very carefully.
The biggest question is whether or not he is worth taking with the No. 8 pick. I have said over and over again that the Vikings shouldn’t be taking a quarterback with that pick. There are going to be other options out there like Jimmy Garoppolo, Zach Mettenberger and Derek Carr in the second round. If the Vikings were picking later in the first round or could trade back into the first round and Manziel was there, I may consider it then but not where they are at now. Manziel could be the most dynamic quarterback in a generation but is such a high risk/high reward pick that it isn’t worth it for the Vikings here especially with the quarterback depth in this year’s draft.