Raiders smart, but Manziel would have been a story

By Art Spander

ALAMEDA, Calif. — The Raiders were wise and logical, employing their first-round pick Thursday to draft a linebacker who observers claim can do everything, much needed by a defense that could do very little.

Oh, if only the Raiders were less wise and more whimsical.

That Oakland took Khalil Mack of the University of Buffalo was both expected and well regarded.

Sporting journalists were resigned to the move while, sob, wishing instead for Johnny Manziel. It was to dream.

As the man who once ran the Raiders, the late Al Davis, told us in no uncertain terms, the idea is to “Just win, baby.” 

Since the Raiders have not just won for 11 consecutive seasons, the selection of Mack — who “could have been the No. 1 overall pick,” wrote one scouting service — indicates that the organization is intent on changing both its record and its culture.

Yet think of how much fun it would have been by the Bay had Oakland chosen Manziel, the quarterback known as Johnny Football and the only guy in the draft who mattered, according to ESPN, the organization that dictates our tastes in things athletic.

Did the Raiders need to use the No. 5 pick of the first round on a QB, especially one supposedly both undersized and undisciplined? Not at all. They smartly took Mack, excellent at bringing down the passer.

Those of us with long memories recall Al Davis maybe 30 years ago, perhaps more, saying in one of those NFL Films segments, “The quarterback must go down, and he must go down hard.”

That was before the NFL became a passing league.

So, all credit to Raider GM Reggie McKenzie and head coach Dennis Allen. “He understands how to rush the passer, and to rush the passer with power,” Allen said of Mack, who played at University of Buffalo.

Beautiful, but do Allen and McKenzie understand what makes a great story? We humble folk behind the microphones and laptops most certainly do.

Imagine Johnny Manziel with the Raiders, even as a backup, and Colin Kaepernick with the 49ers, who face Oakland in a league game during the fall.

Sports writers, columnists, TV reporters, radio reporters, ESPN, CNN, Fox, and even Al Jazeera would have been lined up from Santa Clara to the Golden Gate Bridge for interviews.

Sure, Kap doesn’t say very much, and Johnny Football would be a backup, but that’s beside the point. They’re famous, which is not beside the point as you note from recent sporting tales. Fame sells.

We could have tossed in Alex Smith and Aaron Rodgers, brought up JaMarcus Russell. Pride, poise and pronouns. How enthralling. Alas, how impossible.

Manziel looked like someone who had swallowed a whole lemon as, unable to avoid the cameras, he waited while the draft plodded along. He finally went at No. 22. Shades of Aaron Rodgers in 2005.

But the Rodgers story was primarily local. He was a Cal kid, and the Niners had the No. 1 pick in the draft. Mike Nolan decided on Smith. Rodgers, falling to 24th in the opening round, eventually went to Green Bay and subsequently to the Super Bowl, State Farm commercials and a promo ad for the new Seth Rogen movie, “Neighbors.” See how things grow?

We could have blown up this Kaepernick vs. Manziel thing to where that’s all anyone would have been talking about. No such luck. Johnny Football is stuck in Cleveland, where the probability is he won’t make anyone forget Otto Graham or even Tim Couch.

What the Raiders want to forget is the recent past, their failings on defense. You have to stop the other guys or it doesn’t matter if Joe Montana or Jim Plunkett is your quarterback.

Enter then, along with Oakland free agent signings Justin Tuck and LaMarr Woodley, Khalil Mack.

Nobody — nobody — had a discouraging thing to say about Mack. Just the opposite. “Mack may be the most complete defender in the draft,” wrote Chris Burke in a Sports Illustrated blog. “Even ahead of (Jadeveon) Clowney. Considering he is adept at rushing the passer, stuffing the run and dropping in coverage, working him into the mix should not be too difficult.”

It is waste of time to ask of a sporting organization if it likes the picks it makes in a draft. “If they didn’t like them,” John Madden often said, “they wouldn’t have made them.”

Still, McKenzie and Allen, beginning their third year with the Raiders, seemed especially joyful.

“He’s a real man,” said Allen of Mack. “He’s a football-first guy. And he’s got tremendous work ethic and he’s a team player.”

Agreed. But Johnny Manziel is a story. Sob.