Drafted or Shafted?

The draft is kicking off and it is no secret that some players definitely fare better than others — unless they take the Eli Manning path and refuse the team they get drafted by.  In the end players can only hope for the best.

Johnny Manziel along with his agent, Erik Burkhardt, took some time earlier today to reflect on the night of his draft in 2014.  The interview conducted by Aggie, Kayce Smith,  can be found (for free) here:  Barstool Sports’ Draft Day Special ‘Comeback SZN’ podcast.  It is a great interview if you are a JManFan and it is well worth the listen (be advised there is language). Burkhardt has several players in the draft and the three take a look at the 2018 Draft class.

 

There was lots of good natured ribbing between Manziel and Burkhardt with Johnny teasingly blaming Burkhardt for failing him and giving him draft day PTSD (our words, not is).  “I was supposed to be the first pick in the draft had Eric done his job.”

Burkhardt fired right back and joked that “If he did his job and did everything I said, he would have been the number one pick of the draft.  Taking his shirt off at a private golf club owned by Steve McNair a couple weeks before the draft kind of eliminated that possibility.” Johnny groaned, and the two called a truce.

Johnny went on to recall that throughout the whole process he was fairly exhausted from all he activities happening around the draft in New York. Burkhardt and Manziel related quite a few anecdotes, running into Zac Efron and already the toast of the town already.

Burkhardt explained, “Obviously there was a lot of off the field stuff going on and speculation. He could have been a top 10 pick and I was still very proud because Johnny knew the first time we sat down and made our business plan our goal was to be a first-round draft pick.”

But when it came to the probabilities of the draft, Johnny said”I don’t think we really had any idea. We felt like we had a little bit of a floor, but we didn’t know. Like this year there were some teams that looked like they needed a quarterback on paper.”

Manziel mentioned a score of teams they felt who could potential be in the market for a QB:  Oakland, Minnesota and Tampa Bay or even St. Louis (at the time) who didn’t have quarterbacks.

“When it all came down to it and we walked into the draft and we were sitting at the table, me and ‘EB’ [Burkhardt] kind of looked at each other and had no [expletive] idea what was going on.”

Burkhardt seconded Manziel’s sentiments and said, ” “I felt like we were pretty prepared. We had talked about all the scenarios and what could happen and how private meetings and workouts went with every team. Some we felt a little better than others, but you never really know when you walk into that draft room how it’s going to shake out.”

Johnny indicated that when the chips started falling he was surprised that so many teams took defensive players because it had appeared that so many needed QB talent.

Manziel continued, “There were more teams that needed a quarterback than there were actually worthy first, second, third round picks of quarterbacks in my draft class. There was a lot of teams that didn’t know which direction they were going to go and when it came down to it on draft day, most of them went defensive.”

Burkhardt said that he had worked to prepare Manziel for that may exist within the course of the draft.   And he had also encouraged Manziel to prepare by interacting with some of the teams prior to help establish rapport.  But Manziel was hesitant to take this step, which likely left a mark on Draft Day, at which time he was texting teams like crazy, because he felt so uncomfortable with the way the draft was going.

Burkhardt chimed in and shared, “Everything I’ve been telling him to do for a month and I’m just sitting there like, ‘Told you! You should’ve sent that text a month ago!'”

Johnny related that the consequences of not heeding his agent’s advice was becoming quickly apparent.  “You have to kiss a lot of ass during this process,” Manziel said. “Then sure enough, we’re sitting there nineteenth pick, twenty, twenty-one, the picks are going and going and sure enough we’re sitting at 22 and I’m starting to hear some rumblings that some teams are trying to trade up to come get me and I was sending texts like they were coming out of style like, ‘••••••• come draft me! I’ve been in this room for too long! Get me out of here!'”

Burkhardt once again agreed.  “It’s never easy when a guy falls like that, especially with a guy like Johnny who’s the best I’ve ever seen at the position.”

And to everyone’s shock and dismay, the Browns traded with Philadelphia to draft Johnny Manziel as the twenty-second draft.

Manziel’s short-term agony was over, but the long-term pain was just beginning. A time that must surely seem like a surreal dream by now.

 

Manziel made several fun projections with regards to the draft predicting five qb’s will find a new home in the first round, but he thinks Sam Darnold will go first. “From everything I’ve heard from both Josh Allen and Sam Darnold, the people who were in that camp, I’ve heard that Darnold will be the guy. That’s my guess.”

Johnny also complimented Texas A&M WR, Christian Kirk, and said, “I hope somebody comes and takes him in the first round,” Manziel said. “I think he’ll be able to handle this really nicely. He doesn’t have any problems like that. This is a big day for him, I hope he enjoys it.”

So, it will be interesting to see what happens as the night continues.

 

And First in the Shafted Category …

We haven’t been paying a whole lot of attention, but it looks like the Browns have selected Baker Mayfield with the number one pick of the draft, so Baker will get a chance to show everyone just how well he can do in a substandard environment. Will he be as good as he thinks he is? Will the Browns be as Hoyer-ible as we remember?

We wish Baker luck … Lord knows he is gonna need it.