I've made it clear for a while now that while I like Jerry-the-owner, I'm not a fan of Jerry-the-GM. I was shocked (and glad) he passed on Manziel in the draft, but you know Jerry had to be worried about the what-could-have-been scenario if Manziel turns out to be a great NFL QB.
In any case, I think everyone, including the media, is completely overlooking why Jerry said what he said. First, there's no doubt that he wanted Manziel. That was obvious even before he made his post-draft comments. That said, he trusted his staff more than himself which was a smart decision that few fans and media give him credit for or if they do, it's more of an after thought.
Now on to WHY he said he what he said. The media, and many fans, will gladly write off Jerry as just-being-Jerry-and-saying-something-stupid (and let's be honest, he does make a habit of that), but what Jerry was doing by making those comments was hedging his bet on drafting Martin instead of Manziel. Ever since he passed on Randy Moss, he's been reminded of that "huge mistake" even though a lot of other teams did the same thing. It also didn't help that Randy Moss seemed to own the Cowboys every time he played against them either.
Jerry wanted Manziel, but we went with the safe (and smart) pick with Martin. Now, what would have happened had Hoyer stunk it up and the Browns inserted Manziel in as their starting QB and the Browns went on a tear while the Cowboys were stuck with an aging, steadily breaking-down QB in Romo? Of course if that had happened, the media, and fans (including many of whom did not want the Cowboys to draft Manziel) would have blasted Jerry again for not drafting a (in hindsight at that time) "very obvious franchise QB" in Manziel. It would have been Randy Moss all over again and would have been brought up every time Romo had a bad game, Manziel had a great game or the Browns had post season success.
Now see, Jerry thought he was being smart by saying, "I really wanted Manziel, but I let others talk me out of it" so if Martin failed to pan out or, even worse, Manziel became a superstar franchise QB, Jerry could say, 'I knew better and should have trusted my gut and not let others convince me otherwise." On the other side, if Martin became a solid or better player and/or Manziel failed to pan out, Jerry could say, "I might have wanted Manziel, but I made the smart pick!" Either way, Jerry would be right, which is something he's fought for over 20 years to prove.
What Jerry didn't count on was the fallout he would get over his post-draft Manziel comments from the media and fans, most of whom did not want the Cowboys to draft Manziel. So, instead of the media talking about the solid pick we have in Martin, they are talking about a bad decision that was not made, which makes little sense logic-wise, but a lot of sense ratings and traffic-wise for the media.
Everyone needs to understand one thing, and I heard several sports commentators say this after the draft. The media was drooling over the "Cowboys draft Manziel" story line. The popularity of the Cowboys merged with the popularity of Manziel would have been a "perfect storm" for the media. Either it would have turned out great and the Cowboys would have given the media a daily hot topic or it would turn out to be a historically (hyperbole FTW) bad decision and the Cowboys would still be a hot topic every day. When the Cowboys went with the safe (aka: non-fancy) pick in Martin, and even worse, Manziel ended up in Cleveland of all places, the media lost two great season-long daily topics at the same time. When Jerry made his comments about really wanting to draft Manziel, it was the media's chance to milk the what-could-have-been story lines.
In the end, it's not the same story line and this story will be a footnote by next season. If he had not made those comments and Manziel became that superstar QB, he would have had to listen to the reminders for the next 10-15 years that the Cowboys (/sarcasm on) are the only team that passed on Manziel which was yet another great blunder and failure of Jerry "the GM" Jones (/sarcasm off).
that sig pic it too funny!!!!
