Price: As QB crossroad approaches, Johnny Manziel a risk Patriots can't afford to take

The Patriots shouldn’t sign Johnny Manziel.

The news they were part of a group that kicked the tires on him Thursday was no terrific surprise, at least when you’re talking about due diligence. Manziel is a blank slate to many teams at this stage of his development — the last time he took a snap in an NFL game was more than 800 days ago. With the state of quarterbacking in the league, you could argue that it would be a dereliction of duty not to at least show up and watch him throw. Basically, his appearance at the University of San Diego on Thursday was another step in the long journey back to professional football.

But even though he has made the media tour, acknowledged his past mistakes with a series of mea culpas, and showed a level of contrition for what he's done, New England shouldn’t sign him. Facing an incredibly important stretch over the next few years at the quarterback position, the Patriots need to create a rock-solid succession plan for Life After Tom Brady. Given Manziel’s history, betting on him is a risk New England simply cannot afford to take at this stage of their franchise history.

The question isn’t so much with Manziel’s skill set. He very well could have rediscovered the magic that made him a Heisman Trophy winner and one of the more fascinating prospects in recent draft history. It’s more about the Patriots themselves. New England can’t afford to be anything less than perfect at the quarterback position going forward. There’s no safety net there anymore. Jimmy Garoppolo is gone, off to the West Coast with Kyle Shanahan. As a result, there’s no margin for error when it comes to going after your next franchise signal-caller. Simply put, Manziel’s own history and the looming crossroads the team faces when it comes to the quarterback position, the Patriots can’t afford to take a chance on him right now.

Given Brady’s age, the state of their quarterback depth chart, and the fact that there are a bunch of quality mid-round possibilities in the draft, the possibility of adding Manziel to the mix kind of feels like a luxury item right now. At another stage of their history, they could have afforded to take a flier on the likes of Manizel. But now, not so much. The Patriots are better off angling to land a mid-round quarterback with one of their draft picks. Kyle Lauletta, Luke Faulk, Logan Woodside, Mike White … any of them would be superior alternatives to Manziel this spring. If you’re making the argument that the addition of Manziel and one of the youngsters would make for some sort of middle ground throughout the spring and into training camp, I’d argue that the idea of Manziel taking reps ahead of a draft pick would do more to set back the development of the youngster than anything.

For what it’s worth, there was already a tenuous connection between Brady and Manziel. Early in 2014, he reached out to Brady, and the New England quarterback answered his call. At the combine that February, I asked Manziel about that experience.

“It was cool for him to reach back out to me after I extended a text message to him,’’ Manziel said. “It was extremely cool. Kind of a really funny conversation at first, (then it) worked our way into a little more serious conversation. It was really nice. I’m very thankful for him to be able to extend a hand out to me in the situation that I’m in.

“(He said) just enjoy the process. (He) kind of gave me a little joke: If I teach him to how to run like I can, he’ll do anything in the world for me. It was pretty funny hearing it from him.”

And then, there was the TMZ video from earlier this month where he said he would go play in New England “in a heartbeat.”



(Not that people around here need to be reminded of this, but if I’m Bill Belichick, I consider the fact that if you Google “Johnny Manziel” and “TMZ,” you get “about 201,000 results.” That’s not an ideal SEO scenario for a backup quarterback in New England.)

Ultimately, Manziel’s best course of action at this point is to take things very slowly: Play in Canada for a year, or barring that, become part of the multiple leagues that have sprung up over the last few months. Go through a full year in professional football again — put in the work, grind through the season, deal with adversity and show that you can still lead, and produce tangible results. Then, we can have a serious conversation about a full-time return to the NFL.

Look, I understand that no one is better at providing a second act for players than New England. And personally, I’m naive enough to be a sucker for a good redemption story — if Manziel is serious, this could be great theater. But if he’s going to take that long journey back to football stardom, it’s better for both him and the Patriots if he takes those next steps somewhere other than Foxborough.