Arizona Cardinals GM Steve Keim: Johnny Manziel ‘wasn’t a great fit’
May 9, 2014, 4:51 PM | Updated: 4:51 pm
Admit it. You thought about it.
When the Arizona Cardinals were on the clock with the 20th selection in the 2014 NFL Draft, you thought about how Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel would look in red and white. He was available, and while it’s not a pressing need, the Cardinals do need a quarterback of the future.
General manager Steve Keim thought about it too.
“I think we all love the skill set, it’s hard not to love,” Keim told Doug and Wolf Friday on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. “But we just didn’t feel like he was a great fit for our organization and I think that everybody in the organization has to be on board and feel good with the pick for it to work out and we didn’t feel that we needed to address that in that spot.”
Instead, the Cardinals traded their pick to the New Orleans Saints, acquired a third-round pick and moved down to No. 27, where they drafted Washington State safety Deone Bucannon.
Manziel ended up getting drafted by the Cleveland Browns, 22nd overall. Some were surprised Manziel fell into the 20s, after rampant speculation that the Dallas Cowboys would take him with the 16th pick.
“We certainly thought it could be tempting for (the Cowboys), being a Texas kid and to have that type of success, but at the end of the day, the Cowboys took a very good player in (Notre Dame tackle) Zack Martin.”
