Quarterbacks are making headlines Tuesday in NFL Draft news.
Cleveland Browns general manager Ray Farmer confirmed he will not be attending Johnny Manziel’s Pro Day Thursday at Texas A&M and revealed the team will not send “key coaches” to the other Pro Days of other top quarterback prospects, Cleveland.com reported.
Pro Day workouts can be overblown, as quarterbacks are simply throwing different routes while in shorts and T-shirts. Farmer said Manziel’s Pro Day is “definitely a schedule conflict,” but reminded reporters he has been to games and practices, and has seen the former Heisman Trophy winner throw the ball. He did leave the door open for private meetings with Manziel, who could land to the Browns with the No. 4 overall pick.
“We will have our opportunities to have private workouts,” he told Cleveland.com. “Being in charge of that workout is different than being at a Pro Day where it’s orchestrated and scripted.”
The Oakland Raiders just added Matt Schaub to the their roster, but the team seems likely to add another quarterback at some point in the draft. Perhaps the team already has a prospect in mind.
According to the Fresno Bee, the Raiders “have a massive crush on the former Fresno Starter quarterback” Derek Carr, but not with the No. 5 overall selection. There is a higher chance the team trades down to take Carr later on in the first round, keeping its fingers crossed the Minnesota Vikings don’t pull the trigger with the No. 8 pick.
Carr has long been projected a second-round pick and is ranked fourth among the XN Sports Quarterbacks list.
The decision at the top of the draft seems to take a different turn with each passing day. Jadeveon Clowney, Blake Bortles, Teddy Bridgewater or Manziel — it’s becoming a vicious cycle.
On Monday, Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien confirmed the team will select a quarterback sometime during May’s draft, but not necessarily with the No. 1 overall pick.
“I don’t think there’s any question that we’ll draft a quarterback in the draft,” O’Brien told the NFL Network. “Where we draft that quarterback, I don’t think we know yet. We don’t even know that yet. We’re still in the process of studying all these prospects, in the process of putting a grade on them and place them where they would be in the draft. … As we get closer and closer we’ll obviously be able to make a decision.”
O’Brien added there isn’t too much separation among Bridgewater, Bortles and Manziel, and those are not necessarily the quarterbacks he is watching. The Texans’ first-year coach also named A.J. McCarron, Zach Mettenberger, Logan Thomas, Tom Savage and Jimmy Garoppolo has options beyond the first round.
Obviously, the three guys that everybody talks about, Blake, Teddy and Johnny, those guys are good players. Thy had great college careers. But there are other guys out there,” O’Brien said. “You’ve got McCarron, you’ve got Mettenberger, you’ve got Logan Thomas, you’ve got Savage, you’ve got Garoppolo. I mean, I could go right down the list. To me, you’ve got 10 or 12 guys you’ve got to do a great job of evaluating and make the best pick possible where ever you draft these guys. I see a lot of good quarterbacks.”
