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Jerry Jones: I was so close to drafting Johnny Manziel

Everyone knew Jerry Jones was enamored with Johnny Manziel. 

Surprisingly, the dynamic QB's name was sitting there at No. 16 with the Cowboys on the clock during May's NFL Draft. And then Dallas drafted ... guard Zack Martin. 

Jones went into detail on how tough of a choice it was during Sunday's edition of NFL Network's Inside Training Camp Live. 

"I want you to know that almost as I was handing in the card, it was that close to putting that Manziel card in. It was that close," Jones told NFL Media's Rich Eisen and Michael Irvin from Cowboys camp in Oxnard, California.

"I looked over to my son, Stephen, our chief executive officer, and I said 'I took the right pick.' ... He was the top player by three players on our board at the time that we were sitting there looking at him."

The Cowboys bolstered their offensive line with the pick of Martin and they already have one of the game's best QBs in Tony Romo, but Jones says it's a decision that he thinks about all the time.

"The question was 'could we make it work with Tony Romo during the period of time that we are going to have Tony?' And by the way my expectations are that Tony will be our quarterback several years to come as we move along," Jones said.

"But Manziel is special. I know him personally. I know that he is going to be a success in the National Football League. And it was a hard decision. And it is one that I will probably for the rest of my career think about."

The latest "Around The League Podcast" offers up team-by-team training camp previews of the NFC East and NFC West.

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