If we needed any more confirmation that the Vikings made the proper choice in 2014 by not drafting Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, a Netflix documentary that debuted this week on the life and career of Manziel provided it.
Johnny Manziel, the Vikings 2014 draft and what could have happened
The quarterback-needy Vikings wisely chose not to pick Johnny Manziel in the 2014 Draft. But how might the last nine years have been different if they did?
August 10, 2023 at 4:27PM
Manziel was a mess in so many ways. Purely from a football standpoint, he admitted that he didn't watch any film. That's, um, not great.
On Thursday's Daily Delivery podcast, I took a (hopefully) humorous trip down memory lane and recounted how I was firmly in the camp that believed the Vikings not only needed to pick Manziel in 2014 but that they were fools when they didn't.
The Vikings — who desperately needed a quarterback after the Christian Ponder era fizzled and the Josh Freeman experiment baffled in 2013 — instead took Teddy Bridgewater, which turned out to be a much smarter pick even if Bridgewater's knee injury changed the course of his career.
But let's imagine for a moment that the Vikings — who took Anthony Barr at No. 9 and traded back into the first round to get Bridgewater at 32 — had picked Manziel, who in fact lasted until pick 22 and the Browns. How might that have altered the course of the past nine years of Vikings history?
Here are some possibilities:
*Manziel would have thrived in Minnesota, becoming a franchise QB: Unlikely, particularly given what we saw in the documentary and Manziel's own admission that his spiral could have happened anywhere.
*Manziel would have fared better in Minnesota: This is at least more plausible. Let's say Manziel was functional enough to have a competent 2015 season, his second year in the league. The Vikings, who made the playoffs at 11-5 behind a dominant defense and a strong Adrian Peterson season, could have made the playoffs with Manziel at QB. Then he would have been the guy again in 2016 and Sam Bradford to Minnesota probably never happens.
*Manziel would have flamed out: Likely. It's just a question of how fast. What if it was on the same timeline as in Cleveland, when he was released in March 2016 — less than two years after being drafted. Would it have cost Rick Spielman his job? Would they have tried to draft another QB right away in 2016 (Jared Goff? Carson Wentz? Paxton Lynch?) or 2017 (Mitch Trubisky? Patrick Mahomes? DeShaun Watson)?
*Everything from 2017 forward would be the same? It's not hard to imagine a scenario where the Vikings pieced things together and signed Case Keenum (or a Keenum type) in 2017 after a Manziel disappointment, and then went after Kirk Cousins in free agency in 2018. But it's also very possible that the chain of events would have played out differently enough that Cousins never made it to Minnesota.
Here are four more things to know today:
*Part of the reason I was so obsessed with Manziel in 2014 was his ability to extend plays and make things happen with his feet. Those traits are even more coveted in the modern NFL and could set the Vikings up for a similar decision in the 2024 Draft a decade later.
*A not-so-great decision the Vikings did make? Signing corner Bashaud Breeland in 2021. He had a rough season and was released before the end of the year. And he had a very bad week just now.
*Have the seeds of Aaron Rodgers' discontent been planted?
*Want to know more about Brooks Lee, one of the fastest risers in the Twins minor league system? Chip Scoggins has you covered.
When he was hired after the disastrous 2016 season to reshape the Twins, Derek Falvey brought a reputation for identifying and developing pitching talent. It took a while, but the pipeline we were promised is now materializing.
