Merril Hoge Throws Shade on Johnny Manziel. Everyone Get Outraged!

Merril Hoge talked about Johnny Manziel and you won’t BELIEVE what happened next (via Shutdown Corner):

" He has absolutely no instinct or feel for pocket awareness. He has an instinct to run. That’s a bad instinct if you’re going to have that in the National Football League,” Hoge said on “SportsCenter” on Wednesday. “You have to play in the pocket with traffic around you and throw it. When traffic comes around him, he runs, and that’s dangerous in the National Football League. His skill set does not transition to the National Football League, and it is a big, big risk. In fact, I see bust written all over him, especially if he’s drafted in the first round. "

We’ll get into this much more specifically in the coming weeks (FORESHADOWING ALERT), but Hoge’s concern about the danger of Manziel’s running instinct isn’t entirely unfounded. That being said, it’s a bit over the top just to make a proclamation like “he has bust written all over him” like the ESPN analyst saw the quarterback covered in permanent marker on a recent time machine voyage. There are more nuanced ways to have the discussion.