In an otherwise impressive start to the inaugural season for the Fleet, with flashes from “Thunder & Lighting” duo Ja’Quan Gardner and Terrell Watson, WR Nelson Spruce/TE Gavin Escobar and a more than reliable defense, the Fleet have yet to catch a break when it comes to the most important position on the field—quarterback.
The latest setback came last week in Memphis when Phillip Nelson, who replaced Mike Bercovici in week 2 and led the Fleet to two straight wins, went out early in the game with a fractured clavicle.
In his place was former Coastal Carolina QB Alex Ross, who despite coming hot out of the gate with a 30-yard TD pass to Marcus Baugh, struggled for the majority of the game, finishing the night 8-18, 80 yards, TD and INT.
With Nelson out for at least a month, Martz announced Bercovici would once again be taking over as the starter, continuing the Fleet’s latest trend of quarterback hot potato.
Even before Nelson got injured against Memphis, some Fleet faithful and fans around the league started speculating former Heisman winner and 1st round NFL pick Johnny Manziel could be heading to San Diego—assuming the San Antonio Commanders say “no” since they have first crack due to regional rules—after he was recently released and banned from the CFL.
Those talks grew much louder after last Saturday’s game, but were temporarily silenced after the organization decided to sign QB Alek Torgersen, who impressed coaches during a recent workout with the team.
Whether you love or hate Manziel, here’s a few reasons why, in my eyes, he’s the best option for the Fleet this season and why he'd be great for the AAF.
Experience counts
We all know how Manziel’s NFL career went. Not great. Still, the 15 NFL games he played in are still 15 more games than any current Fleet quarterback has to their name.
And as this league has shown so far, NFL experience matters. Four of the Fleet’s most experienced players, TE Gavin Escobar, DE Damontre Moore, LB AJ Tarpley and CB Ron Brooks, are the leaders of this team and have often looked dominate so far this season. The four also have played in a combined 185 NFL games.
Another player in the AAF who had a less than stellar NFL career is Trent Richardson, who despite a rough 2.4 yards per carry this season, leads the league with 7 rushing touchdowns.
It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that the experience these players have going up against the world’s best athletes in the NFL gives them a sizable advantage against AAF team’s made up mostly of former NFL practice squad players.
Sure he has experience, but is he any good and has he matured?
Has Manziel shown any semblance of a good starting professional quarterback since leaving Texas A&M? Not really. But I’m not ready to give up on him yet.
As we know, Manziel dominated college football back in 2012 and 2013 on his way to becoming the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy. And frankly, most of the defenses he faced in college were made up of similar (or sometimes better) players that he’d face in the AAF.
In the CFL last season, Manziel bounced back from a disastrous 4-interception game in his first start to close the year with 5 TDs and 3 INTs in his final 6 starts.
Although it seems like Manziel has been around for years, he’s still only 26 years old and could easily play until his 30s if he wanted to. The biggest question—and the reason he barely lasted in the NFL—was due to his off the field problems. Again, no matter what you think about him, Manziel’s done a good job of late staying out of the spotlight and out of trouble. It seems, at least from the outside looking in, that he really does love playing football again and wants to not be remembered as a 1st round bust.
Signing Manziel is great for the growth of the league
After solid numbers in week 1 that saw 2.9 million CBS viewers tune into the AAF’s inaugural Saturday games, numbers have slowly declined since, with 409,000 viewers tuning in for week four’s Saturday games.
This isn’t much of a surprise since the the opening week of any new league should be high, but fans don’t want to see a trend of lowering numbers. Luckily for the Fleet, attendance hasn’t been much of an issue, with an average of 17,000 fans attending the first two home games (good enough for third most in the league). One way to almost guarantee a ratings and attendance spike is by signing Manziel.
Case in point, look at the CFL. The league saw its highest ever ratings on ESPN when Manziel started his first career CFL game with the Montreal Alouettes and every sign points to similar results if he were to sign with the Fleet or another AAF team.
At the end of the day, no matter what team we root for in the AAF, we all want this league to succeed and grow for years to come. At least until the AAF gets further established and draws more recognizable names, Manziel would not only would be the biggest name in the league by far, but he’s still possibly the best option the Fleet have to securing a playoff spot this season.
