Patriots meet with Johnny Manziel at Texas A&M Pro Day

While his A&M pal and former #1 receiver Mike Evans just earned himself a $82,500,000 extension with the this-is-the-year-they-turn-the-corner-right Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Johnny Manziel’s been working on his self-dubbed #ComebackSZN for another shot at the NFL. And somehow, Evans and Manziel are only 24 and 25 years old, respectively. Crazy, right?

And this time at Texas A&M’s Pro Day, instead of hauling in bombs from Johnny Manziel, Mike Evans was in the stands watching A&M’s newest star receiver, 5’11’’ Christian Kirk do his thing and hopefully set himself up as a fellow first-round pick.

Hey, call it a bonus if you’re one of the scouts for all 32 NFL teams that showed up; you were definitely going to check out Kirk anyway, may as well see what there is to see with the artist formerly known as Johnny Football.

Not only were the Patriots there, but they also wanted to get some face-to-face time with Johnny, and according to the Boston Herald’s Karen Guregian, New England met up with Manziel both before and after the workout.

That makes the second time in a week where the Patriots have had eyeballs on Manziel - they’re one of the 13 teams that saw him throw at the University of San Diego’s Pro Day last week, and they must’ve liked something they saw if they’re coming back and wanting some one-on-one time.

It surely won’t surprise you to find out that Johnny felt pretty good about how the day went.

From the Dallas News:

“I haven’t felt this good in a long, long time, from a mental standpoint and a physical standpoint,” Manziel said. “I felt like the ball came out really well today.”

To be fair, Mike Evans completely agreed and paid his old buddy one of the best compliments he could - he was looking like himself again.

From the Washington Post:

“I’m just happy he’s turned his life around positively,” said Mike Evans, who played with Manziel at Texas A&M and is now the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ top receiver. “And he spun it great. He looks like Johnny Manziel.”

“He seems like he’s in his right mind. Like I said, looks like he’s turned over his life for the better. Got him a woman, got married, doing the right things, maturing a lot.”

“I think the reward is there,” Evans said. “He’s a phenomenal talent. He’ll bring fans. If the team or the franchise isn’t really selling tickets, he can do that. And he can just flat-out play. At least he’s a No. 2. At least he should be a No. 2 somewhere, if not the starter.”

Of course, the main intrigue with New England taking at least a second look at Manziel is that everyone knows the Patriots need to find their next franchise quarterback sooner or later, with all due respect to Brian Hoyer. And since they’re rarely picking high enough in the draft to get a crack at one of the blue-chip quarterback prospects, that either leaves them with having to grab a project QB like they did with Jimmy Garoppolo, or find some talent elsewhere.

And with Johnny Manziel, the talent was never a question, but pretty much everything else was, and arguably still is.