Manziel has been touted as a possible No.1 overall pick to Texans.
ESPN analyst Merril Hoge believes that NFL prospect Johnny Manziel has “bust written all over him” with fears over his ability to adapt to the league.
Opinion is divided on the former Texas A&M star who is reportedly a possibility for the No.1 overall pick to go to the Houston Texans, while others suggest his style isn’t likely to result in success when he makes the step up.
Hoge is undoubtedly in the latter’s camp as he delivered what was the harshest criticism of the quarterback yet by insisting that he will likely fail in the NFL and it would be a significant risk for a team to take him in the first round of the draft.
“He has absolutely no instinct or feel for pocket awareness. He has an instinct to run. That’s a bad instinct if you’re going to have that in the National Football League. You have to play in the pocket with traffic around you and throw it. When traffic comes around him, he runs, and that’s dangerous in the National Football League,” Hoge said, as reported by NFL.com.
“His skill set does not transition to the National Football League, and it is a big, big risk. In fact, I see bust written all over him, especially if he’s drafted in the first round.”
With so many teams looking for a quarterback in this draft, it is widely expected that Manziel will go in the first round along with the likes of Teddy Bridgewater and Blake Bortles.
However, Hoge believes that arguably the three most important areas for teams when considering a quarterback, decision-making, accuracy and pocket awareness, are all traits that Manziel is lacking in and he could find it a real problem against the elite teams in the NFL.
It remains to be seen how his comments effect Manziel’s standing if at all with interested teams, but it does without question bring his attributes under the spotlight further.
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