It’s been an interesting last few days for Bill Polian. The Hall of Fame executive recently fired off a hot take that Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Lamar Jackson is too short to play the position in the NFL – despite being 6-foot-3 – and should switch to wide receiver.
And now, Polian commented on yet another former Heisman winner in Johnny Manziel, saying the Cleveland Browns “got what they deserved” by drafting Manziel.
“Cleveland got what they deserved,” Polian said. “When people did their homework on Johnny Manziel, as everybody will on Baker Mayfield, they were well aware that Johnny had problems that might affect his playing in the National Football League. And Cleveland ignored it. So they got what they deserved.”
https://twitter.com/fearthe_beard11/status/966043176644501504
On its face, that seems like a fair take given how Manziel flamed out of the league in just a few short years. However, this was the same Polian who was a big backer of Manziel – who is significantly shorter than Jackson – in 2014. He said that Johnny Football has “magic” and Cleveland “owes” it to their fans to draft him not only in the first round, but fourth overall.
Given how spectacularly off Polian was with his evaluation of Manziel four years ago, it’s probably alright to be a bit dubious of his thoughts on Jackson. Of course, there’s still a decent chance Polian is proven right and Jackson fails to make it as an NFL quarterback. But if Jackson does succeed, don’t be surprised to see him backtrack on what he previously said about Jackson just like he did so spectacularly with his Manziel comments.
Follow Us
Subscribe