I'm not about to compare the man to Case Keenum. I think that's folly. But I don't think he's the NFL prospect Russell Wilson was, either. Perhaps I rated Russell Wilson too low as a prospect (solid mid to high 2nd round). The way Wilson has played he should have been a #1 overall. But I also feel like if another Russell Wilson came out I would probably rate him about the same as I did Russell Wilson himself. And if Johnny Manziel is not the prospect Wilson was then why should he get a higher grade?
Manziel WILL have to give himself up more in some situations...but I'm not sure it will help. First off with his style I'm not sure he'll do it. I'm not sure he's actually capable of it. I don't think he sees the field and sees timing-based reads from inside the pocket very well, and that's going to give him tendencies that put him out there as a raw steak for the lions on the defensive line.
Here's a video which really addresses that point about vision within the pocket for me:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...anziel-is-falling-down-nfl-teams-draft-boards
I do think Johnny leaves the pocket for no reason at times. Or rather he holds onto the football for an inordinate amount of time, which in turn forces him to leave the pocket under duress, for no good reason. Evaluating Mike Evans has been difficult at times because Evans seems to have a knack for getting open in his breaks with correct timing and you'd like to see him finish some of those catches and transition to RAC the way an NFL player will need to, but Manziel just doesn't see him or hit him. He waits and waits, gets his guys into scramble drills, climbs up or out of the pocket and searches for wide open windows into which to throw.
Again these are tendencies he'll have to break at the next level and maybe he just gets there and changes. Maybe it'll be easy. As Awsi said maybe the talent will just find a way.
But when you consider his significant off field issues and attitude problems, I don't think so. When the going gets tough (and it *will* get tough, at some point), I don't know that he's going to throw himself body and soul into the effort to move away from the player he was that got him the Heisman and all this acclaim in college. And he's going to have NO SHORTAGE of people whispering in his ear that it's his coaches, not him, that need to change. That he needs to get back to being "Johnny Football" and that his real problem, the REAL reason he's not succeeding in the NFL (even if just temporarily), is because he's not being "himself".
Then he'll go back to the old habits. And he'll get K.I.A.