INDIANAPOLIS -- Johnny Manziel being drafted by the Dallas Cowboys is a virtually impossible scenario, but this much is clear: The club likes Johnny Football. Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones, in fact, predicted NFL stardom for the former Texas A&M quarterback in an appearance on Sirius XM NFL Radio.
"I think he's going to be a star in this league. I think he's going to be very successful," Jones said. "I think he's a great competitor, and I think he's going to have an unbelievable career."
Jones' comments come just days after the Cowboys elected to use one of their 60 allotted NFL Scouting Combine interviews on Manziel, even though they have made a sizeable financial commitment to quarterback Tony Romo. As well, there is little to no chance that Manziel, potentially the No. 1 overall pick of the Houston Texans, would fall to Dallas' pick at No. 16.
A trade-up hardly seems likely, either, given the price that a club with one of the draft's earliest picks would command to move back to No. 16. Jones, presumably, is free to gush publicly about a player the Cowboys can't possibly have a plan to acquire.
"He seems to have eyes in each corner of his head, in terms of being able to see the field," Jones said. "A little bit like our guy (Romo), he can scramble. A lot of people think he's scrambling to run all the time, but he does do a lot of scrambling to throw it. I think that's unique. This guy will get out of trouble, and his eyes are always down field."
If the Texans pass on Manziel, the next strong possibilities would be the Jacksonville Jaguars at No. 3, the Cleveland Browns at No. 4, or the Oakland Raiders at No. 5. Not surprisingly, those clubs aren't talking.
Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter @ChaseGoodbread.
