I hope I’m not breaking news to you… but ESPN has a tiny bit of a Johnny Manziel obsession. So much so, that they are apparently even willing to mightily twist facts in order to spotlight JFF.
On Saturday night to tie in Manziel’s first start today with the Heisman Trophy ceremony, SportsCenter tweeted out this graphic proclaiming Manziel as the ONLY Heisman winner currently starting in the NFL. SportsCenter then deleted the tweet (although the graphic shows up again in another), but more on that in a second.
Let’s take a further look at this attempt at a venn diagram and everything wrong with it, because it just may be the worst attempt at presenting information in ESPN history.
1) There’s a lot of starting quarterbacks in the NFL that haven’t won the Heisman – Manning, Brady, Rodgers and Brees among them. Why ESPN decided to spotlight Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck, and Colin Kaepernick is puzzling, but whatever.
2) On those “Heisman winners” not starting in the NFL, Tim Tebow is the only one who’s been in and out of the league. (So have Troy Smith and Matt Leinart.) Jameis Winston is STILL IN COLLEGE, and thus not eligible to start in the NFL. And Sam Bradford would be the starter for the Rams, but the only reason he isn’t is because of a devastating injury suffered in the preseason.
3) And that brings us to two more Heisman winning quarterbacks SportsCenter didn’t care to mention. First, Carson Palmer, who led the Cardinals to one of the best records in the league before another season ending injury.
And then there’s Cam Newton, who just led his team to a 41-10 victory at New Orleans a week ago but is not starting this week BECAUSE OF A CAR ACCIDENT.
So yes, SportsCenter, your venn diagram is technically accurate. Johnny Manziel is technically the only Heisman winner starting this week in the NFL. But only because two guys suffered terrible season-ending injuries and another got hurt in a car accident. Good job, good effort.
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