Yes, Johnny Football will throw footballs (and presumably do other stuff) for scouts before the draft. No, he won’t be doing any of it at the Scouting Combine or the Texas A&M Pro Day.
Agent Erik Burkhardt said last night on Twitter that Manziel will throw for scouts at his own personal Pro Day workout on March 27, and then privately for teams.
The declaration has prompted some of the same-old criticism that applies to quarterbacks who choose not to throw to a revolving-door of receivers they don’t know at the Scouting Combine. And while it’s true that quarterbacks who choose to work out at the Combine rarely see their draft stock fall, top-end quarterbacks who have passed on passing there also never see that work against them, either.
That said, some players over the years have suffered injuries at the Combine. While quarterback drills don’t involve sprinting and cutting and potential accidental contact, there’s still an incremental chance that Manziel would emerge from the event with some sort of injury that could affect his draft standing.
The bigger eyebrow raise comes from the decision to skip the Aggies’ Pro Day workout, since that’s where the quarterback throws to receivers with whom he’s familiar.
Three of those familiar receivers, we’ll told, will be running the routes and catching the passes on Manziel’s on-campus March 27, and during all private workouts. So while fewer scouts will be taking in the full A&M Pro Day on March 5, three Aggies will be getting extended scrutiny via the various Manziel workouts.