The St. Louis Rams' reported interest in Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel was nothing more than a casual smokescreen, according to Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
NFL Draft 2014: Rams’ interest in Johnny Manziel was a smokescreen
Not surprisingly, St. Louis was never all that serious about Johnny Football.
Holding a press conference before the draft, general manager Les Snead and head coach Jeff Fisher sat before the gathered media and repeatedly expressed their confidence in current quarterback Sam Bradford. Then, at an annual event for season-ticket holders, the same process happened once again.
In the second of those instances, Bradford was in the room, actually standing next to Fisher during his proclamation that Bradford is his guy going forward. Per Thomas, Bradford smiled while the crowd gave a standing ovation.
St. Louis holds the second and 13th picks in the first round and is expected to take a hard look at wide receivers, offensive tackles and safeties. Bernie Miklasz of the Post-Dispatch believes the Rams will take the safe approach and draft a tackle.
As Ryan Van Bibber of Turf Show Times writes, the organization is alarmingly alright with how things have been going:
The most risk-averse franchise in the NFL is choosing to stay the course, a route that's led to exactly seven wins in each of the last two seasons. It doesn't look like that's going to change in 2014. But that's really not about Bradford vs. Manziel. Set aside the quarterback issue all together. The real news here is that Jeff Fisher believes what the Rams are doing on offense is working.
The draft begins at 8 p.m. ET on NFL Network and ESPN.
See More:
