Gil Brandt is a legend in NFL Draft circles. The longtime scout now works for NFL.com, and one of his recent tweets likely has some NFL general manager’s mouths watering.
No surprise but Manziel and Evans will be playing final college games tomorrow, multiple sources tell me. #TAMUvsDUKE
— Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt) December 30, 2013
On Saturday, Manziel met with the media for a final press conference before Tuesday’s game against Duke in the Chik-fil-A Bowl.
“I’ve had a great time in College Station this year, had a great group of friends, a great group of teammates that have been around me since things kind of changed back in August,” Manziel said, via FOX Sports. “But life’s been good.”
Manziel, who won the Heisman Trophy in 2012 and was a finalist for the award this season, played a great game in the Cotton Bowl last year. He set a Cotton Bowl record with 516 total yards to lead Texas A&M over Oklahoma.
As we close in on Manziel's college finale I'm reminded of his Cotton Bowl effort last yr. Best individual performance Ive ever seen.
— Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt) December 31, 2013
Manziel didn’t win the Heisman this year (Florida State’s Jameis Winston did), but his statistics were amazing.
Where Manziel will go in the draft is anybody’s guess, but the latest mock drafts have him going in quite a few different areas.
CBS Sports has Manziel being picked third by the Jaguars and fifth by the Raiders. SB Nation is one of the few mocks that has Manziel falling to the Vikings at No. 8.
After failing with Matt Cassel, Josh Freeman and Christian Ponder this season, the Vikings need to try for another franchise quarterback in the draft. Manziel is a quarterback who possesses every intangible asset. He’s a tough player and widely respected as a team leader. From the intangible and size standpoints, Manziel is Russell Wilson. He’s not quite the passer Wilson is at this point, but he can get there. If he does, the Vikings would have a steal with the eighth pick.
For fans hoping to see Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin as the next head coach of the Vikings, that won’t happen. According to ESPN, Sumlin plans on staying at Texas A&M through the 2015 season.
