NFL Draft Rumors: Johnny Manziel To Dallas Cowboys At 16

There’s only one thing for certain in tonight’s NFL Draft: Johnny Manziel is the most hotly debated quarterback available.

With experts ranging from ESPN‘s Bill Polian, saying he would take him first, to former Eagles quarterback and analyst Ron Jaworski claiming he wouldn’t touch him before the fourth round, the NFL Draft rumors surrounding Johnny Manziel now has him going to the Dallas Cowboys with the 16th pick.

In his one and only NFL Mock Draft, Mike Mayock from the NFL Network thinks Jerry Jones will ultimately pull the trigger to bring “Johnny Football” to Dallas:

“If it’s my pick, I’d upgrade this defense with Donald or Clinton-Dix. But this is Jerry’s world. Tony Romo is 34 and coming off his second back surgery, and I think this team is further away from winning a championship than people think. Can Jerry Jones pass up on this kid? I don’t believe so.”

As Inquistr recently reported, many draft analysts had Manziel going first to the Houston Texans or at worst, falling to number seven and being selected by Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But now it looks like Jerry Jones might pull the trigger and select him with the 16th pick.

If that were to happen, recently recovering Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo would be under an even bigger microscope than ever before with “Johnny Football” lurking in the trenches. And with Manziel already being a home grown product, you better believe his legion of Texas A&M fans would clamor for him to usurp the often criticized Romo. That opinion is shared by USA Today, who also believes the Manziel to the Dallas Cowboys pick would be nothing short of blockbuster:

“The idea is too exciting to consider rationally. Johnny Manziel, Mr. Texas big shot, staying in-state as the understudy to a once-beloved, but fading star in Tony Romo, all under the watchful and not-at-all meddling eye on Jerry Jones. If football existed in the 1500s, Shakespeare would have written about this.”

They also likened the Tony Romo versus Johnny Manziel dynamic to another aging star eventually replaced by a young quarterback on the rise:

“Tony Romo is 34 years old. That’s only one year younger than Brett Favre was when the Green Bay Packers took Rodgers to be his eventual replacement. And Favre was a three-time MVP and Super Bowl champion who wasn’t coming off a second back surgery. In other words, if the Cowboys believe Manziel will be a transformative starting quarterback in his NFL career, as the Packers did with Rodgers, this would be a good scenario.”

Wherever Johnny Manziel lands, be it with the Dallas Cowboys or elsewhere, this NFL Draft is guaranteed to be one for the ages either way.