First-year Vikings coach Mike Zimmer has spoken with Fran Tarkenton about Johnny Manziel’s potential. (Ann Heisenfelt/AP)
When Johnny Manziel works out at his pro day on Thursday, teams from around the league will be paying close attention to his drills on the field, but the most important areas in which he will need to impress teams may be on the chalkboard and in private meetings.
For the Minnesota Vikings, who have a top-10 pick and are believed to be interested in selecting a quarterback early, head coach Mike Zimmer plans to value his impressions of Manziel’s maturity and leadership over the results of the workout.
“It’s still going to come down to how we feel about how he’s going to be in the locker room, what kind of person he’s going to be, what kind of leader, and then go from there,” Zimmer said, via the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
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Legendary Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton has previously compared Manziel to himself, and he could be leading the charge for the team to pick up its interest in Manziel and target him on draft day.
“We talked a lot about (Manziel) because of the height with Manziel and the scrambling ability and things like that,” Zimmer said of conversations with Tarkenton. “He said a lot of good things about Manziel.”
If the former Heisman Trophy winner performs well at his pro day and impresses the Vikings in team meetings, they may finally have their eyes set on one of the top signal-callers in this year’s draft.
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