You couldn’t take your eyes off Johnny Football on New Year’s Eve, or any other time, couldn’t help yourself from imagining him on the biggest NFL stage.
Johnny Jet.
It is fair to wonder: If Johnny Manziel struggled mightily in the fishbowl of College Station, Texas, too much temper and too much drinking and too much immaturity too much of the time, then how can you expect him to survive in New York?
You are a Jets fan and you are all too aware your team is so desperate for skill-position playmakers at receiver and tight end it behooves general manager John Idzik to grab one in the first round and another in the second and maybe another in the third and hope Geno Smith is the guy.
But you can’t stop thinking about Johnny Football, can’t stop dreaming about him, can’t stop amazing at the way he turned Texas A&M’s 31-17 halftime deficit into a 52-48 win over Duke in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.
And so you tell yourself the kid is bound to grow up one of these days, and thrive within a structure that has been lacking for him, and so you keep on dreaming.
And maybe you’re not sold on Geno. You like the way he rebounded at the end of the season, but you can’t stop thinking about those painful growing pains. You like him. But you like Johnny Football better. You like the sound of Broadway Johnny better than Broadway Geno.
And so the dream begins the first night of the 2014 NFL Draft, when Idzik trades up from 18 the way Mike Tannenbaum traded up from 17 to 5 for Mark Sanchez to turn Johnny Football into Johnny Jet.
You see him hurdling a would-be defender, escaping to his left, floating a touchdown pass against all convention. You see him standing on a bench exhorting Jets fans. You see him imploring Muhammad Wilkerson and Sheldon Richardson to get him the ball back. You see a fiery leader.
You see an improvisational whiz making something out of nothing from a broken-down pocket and cutting or pirouetting on a dime to elude a flailing tackler. You see him tormenting defenses out of the read option. You see him spraying darts with velocity and accuracy all over the field. You see him throwing receivers open. You see him lofting a rainbow and hitting his receiver in stride for a touchdown.
You see magic. You see rare instincts. You see Russell Wilson. You see Fran Tarkenton. You see Michael Vick. You see him every bit as passionate as Tom Brady and Philip Rivers and Drew Brees. You see him making his teammates around him better.
ESPN’s Mel Kiper likes Manziel better coming out of college than Geno. And make no mistake about it, Johnny Football will be coming out.
The Texans own the first overall pick, and there will be a public clamoring for Johnny Football to replace Matt Schaub. But new coach Bill O’Brien prefers his quarterbacks be Redwoods. So he’d likely pass.
The problem Idzik would face is four of the teams in the top five of this draft need a quarterback: the Jaguars (3); Browns (4) and Raiders (5). The dream would end if it would require a trade up to 2 with the Rams, who also own the 13th pick. But if Johnny Football could slip out of the top five, the Jets, who own a pair of third-round picks, would be able to ponder a more palatable move up to 7 with the new regime in Tampa to beat the Vikings to him.
Woody Johnson had to have Brett Favre in 2008. He was infatuated with Tim Tebow. He has always liked stars. Johnny Football steps off the bus a star. He is box office. And much more.
“He’s a brand,” analyst Jesse Palmer said after Manziel (4 TD passes, 1 TD rushing) brought A&M back against Duke in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. “He’s Johnny Football.”
You know if Rex Ryan could fall in love with Sanchez, with Tebow, he can fall in love with Johnny Football. Especially if Idzik can somehow come away with an Eric Decker or a James Jones in free agency and find a couple of game-changing gems with the rest of his draft picks. Hey, Alshon Jeffery was a second-rounder, right? Jimmy Graham was a third-rounder, right? Rob Gronkowski was a second-rounder, right? Jordy Nelson was a second-rounder, right? Vincent Jackson was a second-rounder, right? Steve Smith was a third-rounder, right? Keenan Allen was a third-rounder, right? Brandon Marshall was a fourth-rounder, right? Antonio Brown was a sixth-rounder, right? Victor Cruz was a free agent, right? Wayne Chrebet was a free agent, right? Hey, Darrius Heyward-Bey was the seventh pick of the draft, right?
Heisman winners don’t always make it in the pros. Not every little guy is Wilson or Tarkenton or Brees.
You’ll take your chances with Johnny Football, and so would I.
“He loves the big stage because it gives him the opportunity to be a star,” Palmer said.
Idzik and Ryan won’t anoint Smith as the starter. They are committed to a mantra of competition wherever possible. They are eager to bring in another quarterback to compete with Smith, or at the very least, push him, at the very most, win the job.
Why not him? Why not Johnny Jet?