In Sunday morning’s one-liners, there was a link to Vikings coach Mike Zimmer talking about his feeling that Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel’s pro day workout last week was a “sideshow.”
Zimmer shared some more of his thoughts about Manziel during an appearance on 104.9 The Horn in Austin, Texas on Monday. Manziel met with the Vikings on Friday for a workout and a dinner and Zimmer said that he tried to get some information to clear up some “question marks” he had about whether Manziel was going to do what it takes to be a great player or if he wanted to be “the celebrity man guy.”
“We asked him all kinds of questions. ... There are some flags that come up. All of the things that happened out in Los Angeles, the commercials and all that stuff; the position of quarterback in the NFL is such an important position and the reason these guys need to be a totally football-minded guy is the pressure of the position and being the face of an NFL team and doing everything right,” Zimmer said, via the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “That’s the thing you want to know about him -- will he be into work early every single day? Will he be the last to leave? Will he be the guy that is working the hardest to get better?”
Zimmer cited Peyton Manning and Drew Brees when talking about the kind of focus -- “eats, breaths, and sleeps football” -- on the game that he wants to see from a quarterback and that the team has to figure out if Manziel will put in the same kind of time. There’s been a variety of opinions offered on that front since Manziel decided to enter the draft, but we don’t expect any teams to share their full opinion until Manziel’s name is called in May.