INDIANAPOLIS -- Since the end of the college football season, NFL draft prospects have been thinking of almost nothing but the NFL Scouting Combine.
Johnny Manziel has been ignoring it.
At least, that's what the star quarterback's speed coach, Ryan Flaherty, told NFL Media insider Ian Rapoport with regard to the training Flaherty has put him through.
"He's working more on ignoring the combine and working toward him being a rookie. He's been through my NFL offseason program, which I have (over 50 guys) during the months they can't be with the teams," Flaherty said. "The QBs I work with, he's been in that. He's getting his body ready for the season, as opposed to getting him in track shape. I'm getting him ready for the season."
Flaherty, CEO of Prolific Athletes in Carlsbad, Calif., told Rapoport he was pleased with Manziel's 40-yard dash times, but that was before the unofficial 4.56 was adjusted, officially, to 4.68. That clearly wasn't what Manziel was hoping for.
"His goal was to run the 4.5s," Flaherty said.
Agents, of course, would rather just see their clients run the best possible times at the combine, where draft stock can rise and fall between tenths of a second. Flaherty, however, sees a bigger picture.
"All of this stuff we're doing, it's not just speed stuff. It's all injury-prevention to get him ready to take hits. ... My goal is for him to play 10-to-15 years and have no non-contact knee injuries. And get him ready for the season," he said.
Flaherty told Rapoport he was up front with Manziel's agents about his training plan, that it wouldn't be just about "the eye test."
And speaking of quarterbacks who pass the eye test, 250-pound Logan Thomas of Virginia Tech ultimately recorded a better time than Manziel, and best at the position, at 4.61.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread.*
