Cowboys Almost Drafted Aggies QB Johnny Manziel? What's The Truth?

FRISCO - It's going to happen every April now, and as the years go by, the tale will grow taller.

"Jerry Jones almost forced his Dallas Cowboys to take Johnny Manziel in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft.''

It's a helluva story. It's got it all. Controversial owner, colorful kid, Texas QB, first-round arguments ... Unfortunately, it's mostly all baloney.

The tale tale is getting a fresh coat of paint now with The Athletic's profile of Cowboys COO Stephen Jones. In the story, the outlet regurgitates a series of falsehoods about that fateful Cowboys day, making Stephen sound rather heroic because he prevented his dad from selecting the Heisman Trophy winner.

But that never actually happened.

The truth, via those who lived it. ...

The Cowboys certainly considered the Texas A&M Aggies sensation at some point way before their turn came around to the No. 16 overall pick in that spring's NFL Draft. The team had no heir to the aging Tony Romo and imagine what the Cowboys marketing department could've cooked up with "Johnny Football''!

In the days leading up to the draft, owner Jerry Jones still liked the idea. But by Draft Day, he'd been made to see the light: Manziel wasn't going to be graded or rated higher on Dallas' Big Board than two potential stars who the scouting department predicted would be there:

Ohio State linebacker Ryan Shazier and Notre Dame guard Zack Martin.

And then Draft Day came. And the night inched toward Pick No. 16 ...

Staffer Robert Blackwell was in New York, the site of the NFL Draft, and he was instructed by phone (by scouting aide Chris Hall) to write in black Magic Marker two names on potential turn-into-the-league cards.

The two names: “Shazier” on one card. “Martin” on the other.

Two cards. Not three.

In the immediate aftermath of what actually happened, Jerry did indeed tell Stephen that he hoped they wouldn’t end up regretting passing on a “potential franchise QB.”

That angle is true, but old.

But that’s as far as the sadness went …

Until author Jim Dent’s wrote an e-book called “Manziel Mania.” In the quickie piece, created literally from Dent’s prison cell (he was Prisoner No. 1995844 in the John R. Lindsey State Jail in Jacksboro, Texas, incarcerated after a lengthy police chase due to his 10 drunken driving citations), the writer claimed there was so much drama involved here that it required team Stephen Jones to physically accost his father, Jerry, to prevent the owner from “scribbling the name of Johnny Manziel on the draft card.”

Dent’s wildly “creative” fiction created a firestorm. ... that thanks to The Athletic, now rages anew.

But again, to the actual facts from the people involved …

*There are no “draft cards” in the Valley Ranch war room where Jerry and Stephen oversaw the selection process along with McClay and then-coach Jason Garrett. There are computers, notepads and magnetized name tags.

Again ... There are no “draft cards.”

*The paper “draft card” was actually in New York, where each of the 32 teams had representatives who carry their card with their selected player’s name on it up to the commissioner for him to announce. The Cowboys’ rep is Blackwell. There is no way for Blackwell to “be handed a card” by Jerry.

Why not? Because they were sitting 1,600 miles apart from one another.

*There was no Jones-vs.-Jones wrestling match. By virtue of our live coverage on the draft on the official station of the Cowboys, 105.3 The Fan, I was able to watch the WarRoomCam at times even when the telecast is not being shared with ESPN and NFL Network.

I watched, along with colleagues, as Jerry and Stephen and staff talked through the process of the No. 16 pick. There seemed to be some disappointment over Shazier going off the board at 15, to Pittsburgh.

I was later told that Jerry finally asked his entire staff, “So no one in this room wants to take Johnny Manziel?”

Which was correct. No one in the entire building – except maybe Jerry – viewed Manziel as worthy of being taken ahead of Martin. (I’ve since been told that placing Manziel on the board even as a first-round possibility was only done as a courtesy to the owner.)

And then I saw Jerry mouth the words, “So it’s Martin.” … at which time the cogs churned into motion.

Jerry rubber-stamped and relayed the decision to scouting staffer Hall in a Valley Ranch office adjacent to the War Room. Hall immediately barked “Zack Martin” to Blackwell in New York.

Blackwell had those two cards in front of him. The first, suddenly worthless card, read, “Ryan Shazier.” … because Pittsburgh took him at No. 15, one slot ahead of Dallas. The second card said “Zack Martin.” Blackwell handed the Martin card to the front of the room.

Martin, now retired, is Hall-of-Fame-bound.

Manziel was an NFL flop.

An interesting angle: Would Johnny's career gone differently had he landed at "home'' in Dallas rather than in the QB graveyard known as Cleveland?

No way to know.

In any event ...

Story-teller Jerry has kept alive the what-if-Manziel tale, even still after Manziel busted, because it’s marketing-first fun. (I’m still surprised Jerry isn’t selling “Johnny Football Cowboy” T-shirts.)

Story-teller Jerry loves this stuff.

Show biz!

Not long after that draft, I booked Dent as a guest on 105.3 The Fan. We asked him about the origin of the “Jerry’s-Manziel-card” story.

“Aw,” drawled ol’ Jim in the middle of dozens of non-sequitur question dodges, “I got that off (watching TV) …”

In the e-book, Dent writes with imaginary prose, “I could just see Jones grabbing Manziel with the 16th choice of the first round. … I knew that Jones’ hands were shaking when the Cowboys went on the clock with Manziel still on the board. I could envision Jones scribbling the name of Johnny Manziel on the draft card.”

In short, Dent listened to silly speculation and “envisioned” his own tall tale. … and used the tall tale to help sell a book. The book excerpt actually ran in the Dallas Morning News, where somebody’d failed to their homework and adding another level of seeming credibility. 

And Jerry enjoyed the ride. ... as he still does.

A year later, Jerry was on The Fan with “Shan & RJ” and was asked the “How close?” question about Manziel to the Cowboys.

“It certainly was a big debate going on,” Jerry replied, and the keen listener could almost hear the grin through the radio, “if no place else other than my mind.”

It's in Jerry's mind. It's in print, too.

But "Manziel-to-Dallas'' it is not, and never was, real.