National Football League

Book: Jerry Jones had Manziel draft card 'snatched' out of his hands

Published Aug. 18, 2014 2:18 p.m. ET

Sid Saraf

According to a new book, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was ready to take Johnny Manziel in the first round of May's NFL Draft, but was prevented from doing so by his son, and the team's executive vice president, Stephen.

"I could just see Jones grabbing Manziel with the 16th choice of the first round," author Jim Dent writes in his book "Manziel Mania."

"I wrote a book about Jerry Jones in 1995 titled 'King of the Cowboys.' I know the Boss Hog. I knew that Jones' hands were shaking when the Cowboys went on the clock with Manziel still on the board. I could envision Jones scribbling the name of Johnny Manziel on the draft card. Indeed, all of these things happened.

"As it turned out, Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones had snatched the Manziel card straight out of his dad's hand. Otherwise, Jerry would have drafted him and JFF would have sat for at least three years behind Tony Romo."

Rumors spread before the draft that Jones would take the quarterback out of Texas A&M if he fell to the Cowboys at 16. Alas, it wasn't to be as the team went with offensive tackle Zack Martin out of Notre Dame. But Jones himself said that he agonized over the decision.

"I want you to know that almost as I was handing in the card, it was that close to putting that Manziel card in. It was that close," Jones told the Fort-Worth Star Telegram back in July. "I looked over to my son, Stephen, our chief executive officer, and I said 'I took the right pick.' ... He was the top player by three players on our board at the time that we were sitting there looking at him."

Oh, what could have been.

(H/T to the Dallas Morning News for the story)