“With the first pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, the Houston Texans select…..” That phrase has gone through thousands of football fans minds. They are trying to predict who is going to be drafted first overall in the draft. Would it be Jadeveon Clowney, the monstrous defensive end that scares quarterbacks just by breathing from South Carolina, or would it be Johnny Manziel, the electrifying Heisman Trophy winner quarterback from Texas A&M? That was not the only big story coming from the draft. The other big story was Michael Sam, a linebacker from Missouri who became the first openly gay football player, would he be drafted? Well, the waiting and the predicting was finally over on May 8th when the commissioner Roger Goodell came out to announce the first pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.

When Roger Goodell walked out to the podium to announce the first overall pick for this year the camera was on both Clowney and Manziel. The moment finally had come, all the mock drafts and the predictions would be proven to be wrong. Then the commissioner came out to the podium and announced the first pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, Jadeveon Clowney, Defensive End, South Carolina. Clowney was a great pickup for the Texans defense who already have a Pro Bowl defensive end JJ Watt. Clowney ran a 4.53 40 yard dash and he had a 37.5 inch vertical jump. Standing at 6’5 and weighing at 266 lbs, Clowney looks to be a nightmare to opposing quarterbacks. Clowney is predicted to become an All-Pro and possibly a future Hall of Famer. This was a safe pick for the Texans, who made their defense look more intimidating just by one pick. If they drafted Manziel, they would sell a lot of tickets for how exciting of a football player he is. But at the same time, no one knows how Manziel will pan-out in the Professional level. Some analysts have him as a star in the NFL, but others have him as a huge bust and waste of a draft pick. Manziel was a walking highlight reel in college, he would extend plays with his legs and would make some defenders look stupid. He would make plays that you would only see in video games, but other times he would force throws that would cause a interception and make decisions that would make you scratch your head. The professional level is a lot faster than the collegiate level. Manziel would have to understand that he would not be able to run around like he did college without getting hit hard. Another quarterback who was the second pick overall in the 2012 by the Washington Redskins was like Manziel coming into the draft. This quarterback was Robert Griffin III, he was also a Heisman Trophy winner and loved to extend plays with his legs. In his first season with the Redskins in the first round of the playoffs he tore his ACL trying to extend plays with his legs. After seeing this injury happen to a quarterback with that skill, many teams thought it would be too risky to take Manziel with their first pick. Another reason for teams to not select Manziel could be his off the field issues, he is a known to be a partier and he was suspended for the first half of the Rice game last season for signing helmets and footballs for money. So teams also might not have picked Manziel because they did not want to deal with the press and attention that comes with drafting him. So teams began to pass on Manziel until the Cleveland Browns who already passed on Manziel earlier in the first round, traded up to pick number 22 to have two picks in the first round and picked Manziel. All the past quarterbacks drafted by the Browns have become busts and not successful quarterbacks whatsoever. So Manziel and his future will be another drama to occur in the future.

The final headline in the Draft was the St. Louis Rams selecting Michael Sam in the seventh round becoming the first ever openly gay football player to be drafted. This is a small step in the acceptance of gay athletes and gays in general into sports and the world. Sam was Linebacker from Missouri who had great stats in his senior year of football. The Rams said that they drafted Sam for his skills and his play on the field and his sexual interests did not have any effect on him being drafted. This is the way it should be, a person should be judged on how they perform rather than the color of their skin, their gender, and in this case their sexual interests. This was a historical draft not only for the NFL or the Sports World but the World in general. This all became historical with a couple simple worlds, “With the first pick in the 2014 NFL Draft the Houston Texans select…”