For all the fan excitement that Johnny Manziel will bring to whichever NFL team chooses him in the NFL draft -- manifesting itself in everything from ticket sales and merchandising, to Sunday thrills and TV ratings -- none of that should seep into the draft-day decision, NFL Media analyst Mike Mayock said Thursday.
In a guest appearance on "The Dan Patrick Show," Mayock debated Patrick on that very issue. Not surprisingly, Mayock took the football-only position, while Patrick suggested that franchises such as the Jacksonville Jaguars and Oakland Raiders, and to a lesser extent the Cleveland Browns, should more strongly consider rolling the Manziel dice.
"You're going to sell tickets today, (but) what happens if you go 2-14, the kid can't play, and you need another quarterback next year? The general manager's fired, the head coach is gone, and that fan base you energized for that one Thursday-night game couldn't care less again," Mayock said.
Patrick suggested that downtrodden franchises would be no worse off the following year if Manziel were to struggle.
"If you're on a bad team, you're not going to get better overnight in Oakland or Jacksonville," he said.
Sorry, Dan, but if the Jaguars missed out on an elite pass rusher, like Jadeveon Clowney for instance, because they were blinded by the Johnny Football hype, they would most definitely be worse off the following year to have a high-profile backup quarterback and the same hole to fill at defensive end.
It's the same logic by which the club passed on the chance to pick up Tim Tebow for the fan appeal he would have drawn among the rabid Florida Gators fan base in Jacksonville.
And it's the right logic.
"Winning is the best deodorant of all," Mayock said.
And if sacks and interceptions are too much a part of Manziel's NFL game, things will begin to smell bad quickly no matter how exciting he can be.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread.*
