Johnny Manziel is arguably the biggest bust in NFL history, and it’s strange to think about how many teams were eager to draft him. The Texas A&M product dazzled with his backyard-style football that was jaw-dropping at times. He almost fooled Jason Licht too, if you can believe it. Yes, the same Tampa Bay Buccaneers GM nearly selected him with his first-ever draft pick.
Looking back on the 2014 NFL Draft, the class was loaded. Interestingly, the first overall pick, Jadeveon Clowney, turned out to be somewhat of a bust. But the class included Khalil Mack, Aaron Donald, and Manziel’s wide receiver teammate Mike Evans.
Evans had a ton of upside coming out of College Station. He put together two back-to-back 1000-yard seasons and totalled 17 touchdowns. However, Licht, like many others, was distracted by the guy throwing the ball to Evans in every highlight reel.
“I really went into that draft wanting to draft a quarterback,” Licht expressed on Green Light with Jason Long.
“So, I really wanted to draft Johnny Manziel. I locked myself in my office watching quarterbacks that year… I wake up like, ‘Okay, I got to watch Johnny Manziel again.’” Clearly, Licht fell into the trap that many other GMs fell into that year.
Manziel’s film was as exciting as it could’ve been. Sometimes, he’d scramble around for what felt like an eternity before pinpointing a receiver downfield for a huge gain. It was crowd-pleasing entertainment, no doubt.
But after a while, Licht realized it wasn’t Manziel doing the heavy lifting in all of those highlights. In fact, it was Evans coming through with wild, contested catches to make his quarterback look better.
“Every time I was watching it, Mike [Evans] would just make these spectacular catches, like we know that he does right now. And it just came back to, like, when we talked about Manziel… It just became apparent that Mike was the guy, you know, that we wanted for us,” Licht stated.
By the time the Bucs were on the clock with the 7th pick, they ultimately decided to go with Evans over Manziel. Johnny Football would have to wait until pick 22, when the Cleveland Browns traded up to select him. Yet another addition to the club’s long list of terrible quarterback draft picks.
In the end, Licht’s evaluation of the situation at Texas A&M couldn’t have been more accurate. Manziel was a bust and only ever played in 14 games. Meanwhile, Evans is still with the Bucs and has become the best receiver in franchise history.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but this is why GMs get paid the big bucks to make tough calls. Licht did his research and ultimately proved that Evans was the true engine behind Manziel’s success. It’s a discovery that still makes him look like a genius today.
More must-reads: