Is Manziel The Favorite For Offensive ROY?
The first thing they teach you in journalism 101 is that you should start any piece by answering as much of the questions posed by your subject in the first paragraph as possible. So the answer is no, Johnny Manziel is not the favorite to win Offensive Rookie Of The Year, which is kind of a bummer for someone who has been bestowed with the last name “Football.”
There are a lot of reason why Manziel is not the favorite for Offensive ROY. First of all, he was not even the NFL’s first pick of quarterbacks. The Jacksonville Jags, the first team on the boards in need of a QB, picked Blake Bortles as their signal-caller. Though, GM David Caldwell has said that Bortles will sit, watch and learn during his rookie year, so Manziel was not trumped by him.
Teddy Bridgewater also came to the NFL in a similar position to Manziel. Again he is not likely to play this year as veteran Matt Cassel will remain with the Minnesota Vikings and will likely be the starter for the team and mentor to the young QB.
As far as quarterbacks go, Manziel has the best chance of starting, but even that is not set in stone. Cleveland Browns‘ coach Mike Pentine said that Johnny “Football” was going to have to out football Brian Hoyer. A task that Penttine said would be “very difficult” to do. In other words, it is going to be tough for Manziel to win ROY if he is on the bench.
However, the pressure will be on Pentine to start Manziel. He comes with a fan base that is only comparable to the fan base that Tim Tebow brought with him. Tebow, due to his fanfare, eventually started and got some important touches in his first season, despite being universally viewed as mediocre to terrible, at best.
Still there is only one place you need to look to see that Manziel is not the favorite for Offensive ROY and that is the ‘books. Manziel has the third best odds to win the award but his odds sit at around 15/2. The overwhelming favorites are Buffalo Bills WR Sammy Watkins (4/1) and Tampa Bay Bucs WR Mike Evans (3/1).
I am not a Johnny “Football” hater by any means. Â In fact, I am optimistic about his future in the NFL. I am simply answering a question by the numbers.
