Manziel's Number One Desire

With the NFL Combine upcoming, all eyes will be on Johnny Manziel. Even though he is not throwing at the combine, people will be talking to him in hopes of grabbing that one soundbite the folks of ESPN, Sports Illustrated and others will be talking about for a couple days. Manziel already gave them a couple in the past couple of days with expressing his desire to play for Houston Texans, and how they will regret not picking him if Houston decides to go another way. Manziel has an obsession with winning, and for him, it seems important to his brand to be the number one pick in the draft.

It is hard to remember a player campaigning for a team to draft him in recent memory especially with the number one pick. The only one that comes to mind is Vince Young and Houston. Young like Manziel was a Texas kid and wanted to stay there yet I do not think VY pushed the idea of him being a Texan as hard as Manziel did in the last couple of days. He had the comments about playing with Andre Johnson, Brian Cushing and others. Does he want to stay in Texas or is it about being the number one pick?  

If we broke it down from percentages, I would put it at 70 percent him wanting to be the number one pick overall. Manziel seems himself as royalty and who can really blame him on this point. He wants to build his brand through Texas and basically own the state. From a business angle, this is a no-brainer for Houston to draft Manziel with the number one pick. Dallas will always be the number one team in the state, but the Texans will pull themselves closer to the top with Manziel as well get a great deal of casual fans cheering for this team. Manziel would be able to recreate what he did at Texas A&M with ease at Houston even if he wants to get rid of the Johnny Football moniker.

As for playing for the Texans, Manziel gets it that this team is not far off from being a playoff team. AFC South is not a good division with Tennessee being in limbo, Indianapolis being the only good team and Jacksonville still being a year or two away. If Johnny goes to Jacksonville, Oakland or Cleveland, he will not be making a playoff appearance for maybe a year.  Manziel wants to continue to be a winner and not have the same sort of struggles that Cam Newton suffered with in the first two years at Carolina. Manziel knows he will be criticized no matter what yet Houston probably gives him the best opportunity to skirt some of those critics. 

For all that Manziel says about Houston, does the team really want him? That's the biggest question. He does not seem like a Bill O'Brien-type player as Manziel is cut from a different fabric. O'Brien seems more like he would want a guy like Blake Bortles or Teddy Bridgewater. No matter what management says, I believe he will have the final call on the player they are drafting if it is going to be a quarterback. O'Brien is a quarterbacks coach by trade and will be likely working with this guy for the entire year. He wants a quarterback whom O'Brien can mold into his type of quarterback. It is hard to think Manziel is that type of player. 

Personally, I hope Manziel goes to Jacksonville. I want to see what happens when Manziel has the desire to scorch the earth pissed off at Houston for not taking him. The fact he would get to face them twice a year with different colors would be the greatest heel turn to the state of Texas.

Charlie.