Rumors continue to swirl on Manziel, Rams/PD

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RamBill

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Rumors continue to swirl on Manziel, Rams
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_84b23ea4-57c7-5dfb-9c61-68c7dd28bdbc.html

For four months, or ever since the 2013 season ended, Rams coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Les Snead have told everyone who would listen that Sam Bradford was their man at quarterback. Period. Exclamation point. End of discussion.

On Jan. 9, Snead said in reference to taking a quarterback at No. 2 overall, “Maybe that’s way too out of the box.” And later, “At that No. 2 pick, I don’t know if that’s the wisest thing.”

At the NFL scouting combine, Fisher said: “As I mentioned a couple years ago, one of the primary reasons, one of the key reasons I took this job was because of Sam. And we as an organization — coaches, Les, and everybody — have a great deal of respect for him. And trust in him. He’s our guy. So I don’t know where that (speculation)’s coming from.”

Now, the Rams are supposedly smitten with Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel. Suddenly, draft experts all over the country are scrambling their boards, some sliding Manziel all the way up to that No. 2 overall spot — the first of the Rams’ two first-round picks.

But there’s more. On Monday came a report that the Rams were shopping Bradford in trade talks with Minnesota. Sources close to the Rams quickly shot that one down.

As for the rest, it’s all still hanging out there, creating a field day for Bradford bashers as well as those with the Manziel man-crush.

Several sources around the league contacted by the Post-Dispatch over the last several days have all said variations of the same thing in regard to Manziel and the Rams. Namely:

• No one in the league — i.e., team front offices — believes the Rams are taking Manziel at No. 2 overall.

• It is a smokescreen to build up trade value for the pick.

• Fisher has always been one who engages in pre-draft subterfuge — in fact, enjoys engaging in pre-draft subterfuge.

The Rams have said all along they would evaluate quarterbacks in the draft. And they have done so, casting a wide net at the position, mainly directed at the second- and third-tier quarterbacks in the draft.

There are those who profess with certainty that the Rams fully believe in Bradford and are merely doing due diligence in looking at Manziel and the others. There’s also a thought process that the team doesn’t expect to be picking at No. 2 overall at any time in the near future — so they should at least discuss all of the quarterback options before moving on.

But the vibe at Rams Park is that there is genuine interest in Manziel. ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, who has known Fisher for a long time, has been reporting that for several days. Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network had an interesting tweet Monday: that Fisher and Snead kicked other staff members out of the team suite at the NFL combine during their formal interview with Manziel. Make what you will of that one.

Even so, the entire Manziel-Rams scenario seems far-fetched, starting with the fact that the news of the Rams’ private workout this past week with Manziel leaked out. Why let the rest of the league know you are interested in Manziel? If that were the case, wouldn’t it merely entice teams to jump ahead of you in a trade-up with Houston at No. 1 overall for Manziel?

If the Rams are merely using the Manziel talk to trade out of No. 2, there doesn’t appear to be a clear trading partner, at this point anyway, although there have been intermittent reports that Cleveland owner Jimmy Haslam has “Johnny Football” fever. The Browns pick No. 4 overall.

Jacksonville at No. 3 overall, Oakland at No. 5 overall, as well as Tampa Bay at No. 7 and Minnesota at No. 8 are all quarterback-needy in varying degrees.

The overwhelming feeling is that Houston — which also needs a quarterback — will take South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. But there are obviously no guarantees, and the Texans haven’t tipped their hand. They could still go quarterback, or trade down themselves.

If any trade were to develop at No. 2, it might be Atlanta at No. 6 trying to get Clowney (if he’s there) or Auburn offensive tackle Greg Robinson.

But if the Rams do indeed take Manziel, what happens with Bradford? You can’t play two quarterbacks at the same time. And the book on Fisher is that he’s not a fan of quarterback controversies. Trading Bradford will be difficult because he’s scheduled to make a base salary of just over $14 million this season, and he’s coming off knee surgery. Remember, the trading partner picks up the contract.

It also seems difficult to believe after two seasons with Bradford at quarterback, learning the scheme of offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, that the team would just start all over with Manziel. While this is not a make-or-break year for Fisher or Snead, there is an increasing urgency to win now after going 7-8-1 and then 7-9 in two seasons in St. Louis.

Bradford was playing very well at the time of his season-ending knee injury in late October. There are no signs that he’s had any setback during the late stages of rehab. If there’s any concern by the coaching staff, it’s that they want Bradford to take more of a leadership role with the team.

Fisher and Snead have been on the road conducting private workouts and have said nothing about their interest or non-interest in Manziel. But they will conduct their annual pre-draft news conference today, and undoubtedly the Manziel question will come up.
 

FRO

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Hope he is right. I can't fathom passing on Robinson, Matthews, Watkins, or Mack for Manziel. He is nowhere near the prospect those guys are. It would be a Brian Quick like pick where you got too cute.
 

kurtfaulk

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Finally, a sane article on this whole circus.

.
 

max

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Nah. That can't be.

All those experts say the Rams are taking Manziel.
 

Yamahopper

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While this has all been BS from the start it has killed some of the time to the draft and sparked debate.
 

Memphis Ram

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While this has all been BS from the start it has killed some of the time to the draft and sparked debate.

And it's probably helped the team get a few more calls. For example, I'd be shocked if someone from the Titans organization hasn't inquired about Bradford.

Unlike most teams:

- they've actually got the cap space to handle Bradford's contract.
- AND based upon his experience in Arizona, their new head coach, Ken Whisenhunt, seems to prefer to bring in veteran QBs vs. drafting them. Even went to the Super Bowl with a former Ram in Kurt Warner.:whistle:
 

Yamahopper

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And it's probably helped the team get a few more calls. For example, I'd be shocked if someone from the Titans organization hasn't inquired about Bradford.

Unlike most teams:

- they've actually got the cap space to handle Bradford's contract.
- AND based upon his experience in Arizona, their new head coach, Ken Whisenhunt, seems to prefer to bring in veteran QBs vs. drafting them. Even went to the Super Bowl with a former Ram in Kurt Warner.:whistle:

I think your right. Sneads phone had to be ringing, and not just the Titans. I looked it up and maybe 5 teams could take Bradford on without cutting or restructuring other contracts. No way Bradford restructures his to fit in.The Jags and Browns might have dialed Snead also. Why would the Jags, Browns or Titans be forced to overpay to get the Rams off Manziel when Bradford would be cheaper? The Texans have the rights to Manziel right now if they want him. They know they can't get him and Clowney both. So if they trade down it would be stupid to think they can for sure get Manziel.

To me this where the idea of a smokescreen falls apart. Those GM's are a bunch of gossips. One call to Snead, and he says no on Bradford or asks for outlandish compensation the jig is up. The word would spread in a minute.

I Think there is/was some fire with the smoke. Maybe some internal dialogue on team direction going forward and they wanted to judge what the offers would be for Bradford and would it be beneficial to move Bradford now while they can get their choice of QB's and get draft picks and cap room instead of dealing with this in Bradford walk year not knowing what quality QB they can get.

But if either the Jags or Browns offered their first picks for Bradford would you jump on that? Maybe that was the endgame.
 
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I think your right. Sneads phone had to be ringing, and not just the Titans. I looked it up and maybe 5 teams could take Bradford on without cutting or restructuring other contracts. No way Bradford restructures his to fit in.The Jags and Browns might have dialed Snead also. Why would the Jags, Browns or Titans be forced to overpay to get the Rams off Manziel when Bradford would be cheaper? The Texans have the rights to Manziel right now if they want him. They know they can't get him and Clowney both. So if they trade down it would be stupid to think they can for sure get Manziel.

To me this where the idea of a smokescreen falls apart. Those GM's are a bunch of gossips. One call to Snead, and he says no on Bradford or asks for outlandish compensation the jig is up. The word would spread in a minute.

I Think there is/was some fire with the smoke. Maybe some internal dialogue on team direction going forward and they wanted to judge what the offers would be for Bradford and would it be beneficial to move Bradford now while they can get their choice of QB's and get draft picks and cap room instead of dealing with this in Bradford walk year not knowing what quality QB they can get.

But if either the Jags or Browns offered their first picks for Bradford would you jump on that? Maybe that was the endgame.

Couldn't he just of said it's contingent upon Manziel being there, so we can't do it right now?
 

Yamahopper

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Couldn't he just of said it's contingent upon Manziel being there, so we can't do it right now?
A deal of that size has to be planned out ahead of time. It's a lot to fit in a 10 min. window. Forsure the other team would want to examine Bradfords knee. Sneed wouldn't make that deal sight unseen neither would any other GM. Yeah it could happen fast but I think the framework has to be in place.
And what makes people think it's dependent on Manziel? Cleveland is a playoff team with Bradford, they give up #4 for him. Maybe the Rams go some combo of Mathews, Robinson, Watkins, Evans Mack at 2&4 taking a QB at 13 that fits the run first offense.
 

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