Johnny Manziel watches NFL draft from a barstool before heading to Justin Bieber concert

It looks like Johnny Manziel has gone from being a draft pick to watching the draft flow after a photo of the out-of-work quarterback was posted on social media showing the former NFL quarterback watching the NFL draft proceedings from an Ohio bar Thursday night.

The Los Angeles Rams kicked off the 2016 NFL draft by selecting California's Jared Goff with the first overall pick. And while Goff became the first Cal quarterback to land in the first round since the Green Bay Packers took Aaron Rodgers at No. 24 in 2005, the troubled Manziel was seen watching the event from a bar in Columbus before the former #1 pick reportedly headed off to a Justin Bieber concert.

721 Days Apart: Johnny Manziel is a #1 draft pick, Johnny Manziel is out of work, watching draft at bar pic.twitter.com/zT67944DWu

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) April 29, 2016

What a difference a couple of years make.

Seattle Seahawks to try out second deaf player: Report

The Seattle Seahawks are planning to try out a second deaf player after the success of fullback Derrick Coleman. 

Coleman, who has been deaf since the age of three, helped Seattle win their first ever Super Bowl last February all while becoming an inspirational fan favorite.

Now, Seattle has invited another deaf player Adham Talaat to take part in a mini-camp in a bid to earn a spot on the team. 

The 23-year-old defensive end currently plays with tiny Gallaudet University in Washington D.C. which is a school for the deaf.

According to Seattle Post Intelligencer, Talaat is being given the opportunity to try out for the Seahawks after failing to be selected in the NFL draft last week.

Seattle was one of the six NFL teams that were present on April 9 for Talaat's Pro Day at Gallaudet, the first in school history.

The 6-foot-6 Talaat can run the 40 in under five seconds. He made 123 tackles over the course of last season, prompting the interest from Seattle. 

Talaat, like Coleman, failed to get picked during last week's draft although he is being offered a chance of making it to the highest level. 

Coleman wasn't during the draft twelve months earlier, but managed to impress Seattle's coaches at a special training camp.

Now, Talaat — who lost his hearing when he was an18-month-old — is being given the same opportunity. 

"The fact that Derrick Coleman is thriving in the NFL despite his hearing loss is opening eyes and doors in that aspect," said Talatt. 

"For every person that has ever been told the words: 'Deaf people can't do this, deaf people can't do that,' I want to be a living example that yes, they can."

"I don't view my hearing loss as any detriment or hindrance at all. I actually feel it is an advantage for me," reasoned Talaat.

"Crowd noise and trash talk does not faze me. An important point to consider is that NFL stadiums are loud. Players can't always hear each other, so they use signals or signs on the sidelines, which is non-verbal communication. That happens to be my specialty."

And it gets plenty loud inside CenturyLink Field.

Michael Sam signs first endorsement deal with Visa: Report

Michael Sam, who could become the first openly gay player in the NFL whether he’s drafted this week or gets picked up as an undrafted rookie free agent, has signed his first endorsement deal.

The defensive end partnered with Visa, according to an ESPN report, and on Thursday — the first day of the NFL draft — the company debuted a video spot featuring the SEC Defensive Player of the Year to its YouTube account.

“Judge me for what I do on the field,” Sam's voiceover says as he slowly bench presses in a weight room. 

Sam, who is predicted to go anywhere from the third to sixth round, had 11.5 sacks, 19 tackles for loss and forced two fumbles at Missouri last year.

"We felt that Michael's story was a perfect fit for our 'everywhere' campaign, which is meant to inspire people to reach their own personal goals and aspirations," Visa's chief marketing officer Kevin Burke told ESPN.com. "We wish Michael the best on and off the field as he embarks on the next chapter of his life."

Jadeveon Clowney to Lawrence Taylor comparison is 'ridiculous': Carl Banks

Jadeveon Clowney hasn't even stepped into an NFL locker room and already he is being compared to one of the league's all-time greats — Lawrence Taylor.

Though no fault of the pass-rushing South Carolina lineman, Clowney's size and freakish athletic abilities makes the comparison to the New York Giants legend inevitable — especially with all of the pre-draft hype leading up to Clowney being the potential No. 1 overall pick.

But one of L.T.'s longtime former teammates thinks all of the talk is just plain crazy.

Carl Banks, Taylor's former Giants teammate and fellow linebacker knows hyperbole doesn't equal a 13-season NFL career and has seen plenty "game-changers" come and go.

"No. 1, you're stepping over a lot of great defensive ends," Banks told ESPN’s Ashley Fox. "They should hope he's as good as a Richard Dent, Neil Smith, Bruce Smith or Charles Haley. If he can get to that level, he's a dominant player. But you want to jump over those players and say he's the next Lawrence Taylor? It's ridiculous. I just gave you four of the greatest defensive ends, and you don't want to put him in that category because he's already better than them?"

Besides, Clowney has zero career NFL sacks and some might suggest he is a prima donna who took almost an entire college season off while Taylor revolutionized the linebacker position and had 132.5 career sacks. And, according to Banks, L.T. never took a play or practice off.

"LT was the guy that would always set the tempo for practice, whether he hated every drill," said Banks, now an analyst on the Giants radio broadcast. "He would complain after the fact, but he would give 100 percent. ... He never took a play off, never wanted to take a play off and resented players who took plays off. He'd talk about you if you wouldn't finish."

The expectations for Clowney have almost reached almost unrealistic levels.

Taylor turned the game upside down when he came out of North Carolina in 1981. And while the comparisons to the Hall-of-Famer might be unfair to Clowney right now, they are already out there.

At least it's better than being compared to Vernon Gholston.

Only time will tell.

Missouri All-American and NFL prospect Michael Sam says he is gay

Missouri All-American Michael Sam says he is gay, and the Tigers defensive end could become the first openly homosexual player in the NFL.

In multiple interviews published Sunday night, the 260-pound Sam — an All-America pick last season and potential mid-round NFL draft pick in May — revealed he is gay.

"I just want to make sure I could tell my story the way I want to tell it," Sam told the New York Times. "I just want to own my truth."

In other interviews with ESPN and Outsports, Sam says he already came out to his teammates and coaches at Missouri in August.

"I am an openly, proud gay man," he said

Sam's  representatives had spread the word to NFL teams recently he planned to come out before this month's NFL scouting combine.

On Saturday night, Sam had dinner with a group including former NFL punter Chris Kluwe and linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, who both have been outspoken in their support of gay rights.

No NFL player has announced publicly he's gay while his career is active. Several former players, including Kwame Harris and Esera Tuaolo, have said they're gay after retiring.

Sam participated in the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., last month after leading the SEC in sacks (11.5) and tackles for loss (19), and he is projected to be a mid-round NFL draft pick.

"It’s a big deal. No one has done this before. And it’s kind of a nervous process," he said. "But I know what I want to be ... I want to be a football player in the NFL." 

Jets take Geno Smith in second round to mixed response

Former New York Jets wide receiver Wayne Chrebet had the unenviable task of announcing the team's 39th pick in front of the raucous Jets faithful inside Radio City Music Hall Friday night. And, even before the fan favorite finished the name "Geno Smith," loud strains of mostly boos from the stunned crowd swept throughout the massive concert hall.

Smith was labeled a pre-draft, first round pick and sulked in the green room after 32 teams passed on the West Virginia quarterback last night.  On Friday, the Jets drafted an emotional Smith who must battle Mark Sanchez and four other quarterbacks in a logjam for a spot on the Jets roster.

"We're going to the playoffs next year," Smith told reporters after putting on a green and white cap. Good start, but we've all heard that before.

Rex Ryan must be grinding his teeth over this controversial pick — but not as much as Sanchez. Let the next Hard Knocks summer begin.

Watch reaction when Eagles fan Justin Pugh finds out he was drafted by Giants

When Justin Pugh finally got the call he was waiting for all Thursday night, it didn't come from the lifelong Philadelphia Eagles fan's favorite team but from one of its most intense NFL rivals — the New York Giants.

The Syracuse offensive tackle breaks out in a broad smile when he takes the call and his family and friends wait — tighter than coiled cobras — while he makes nearly two minutes of small talk with the Giants head coach Tom Coughlin.  One of Pugh's buddies in an Eagles jersey grabs his head in disbelief when he first hears Pugh say "I'm excited to become a Giant."

At 1:55 of the video, Pugh hangs up and all hell breaks loose in his family's Bucks County home as his mom breaks out in tears and his buddies dog pile him.

“It was great,” Pugh said about being the 19th pick. “Coach Coughlin was the first one to call me. When we did the interview at the [NFL] Combine, coach Coughlin asked me who was the best player who ever played at Syracuse and I told him, ‘Coach Coughlin.’ That was the one that sealed the deal for me as soon as I said that. We’re a couple of Syracuse guys and I’m staying in state. They told me that I would come in and compete wherever they see fit. I’m just going to go in and do what I have to do, play hard-nosed football.”

Look at it this way, Pugh's family and friends are only a N.J. Turnpike drive from Philly to MetLife Stadium and the two teams meet at least twice a season. And he's playing in New York.  Can't get any better than that.

RG3 immortalized in bust made out of BBQ chicken

Yesterday, Robert Griffin III called himself the "face of a franchise"and today he is just that.  Only this face is made out of chicken.

The former Heisman Trophy winner and projected No. 2 pick in Thursday's 2012 NFL Draft unveiled a "life-size" bust of himself made out of bread and BBQ chicken at his introduction as Subway sandwich shops newest spokesperson.

More than 300 pieces of chicken were used to create the artistic representation of the football star— with a head the size of a defensive tackle— which the quarterback happily posed with at a mid-town Manhattan Subway shop.

It looked eerily more like the late pop singer Michael Jackson than the former-Baylor QB.

RG3 is making the rounds in New York while he prepares to be selected by the Washington Redskins at Thursday night's draft at Radio City Music Hall.

The sculpture was made by artist James Victor, stands about three feet tall and is made almost entirely out of chicken with shoulder pads of bread.

The Redskins are probably hoping there's not a trace of baloney or any other kind of "bust" in their real life pick.

The Draft is Daft

By Tony Mangia

Does anyone ever get the NFL draft picks right? Like fortune tellers, weathermen and NCAA bracketers before them, every spring the football prognosticators rear their over-informed heads and make determined picks. Vertical leaps, arm strength, 40 speed and psychiatric evaluations make the difference in being considered a sure first round pick or being ditched at the prom, ala Brady Quinn. For example, the experts take on QBs Tim Tebow and Jimmy Clausen caused the most drama this year. Clausen would be a top ten pick and skeptics piled on

the Tebow beatdown. Guess who was holding his you-know-what on Friday while the ex-Gator was wearing a glass slipper in Denver? Draft foreseers, like TV weathermen, still get to keep their jobs even after calling for sunshine when its pouring rain.

Take Mel Kiper Jr. and his high-browed predictions--please take him and his Chicago Bears helmet haircut. Does anybody really pay attention to this guy? It seems like NFL teams don't. Sandra Bullock has more foresight than Kiper. The 2010 draft's first three--no...four--were gimmes. My grandmother could have picked them correctly and she still sees Don Meredith on Monday Night Football. In order: Sam Bradford, Ndamukong Suh, Gerald McCoy and Trent Williams were the top picks on everyone's board but, after that, Kiper only had 13 of his top 25 players even picked in the first round. And who is this other guy, Todd McShay? Where the hell did he come from?! Just what we need, another draft pundit.

ESPN bought the draft to prime time this past week. They had a countdown clock in the left hand corner of the screen to remind us about Thursday night all week and even the next day for the second round. People actually care that much about the second round?! Maybe those crazed fans in the gallery at Radio City actually plan their Friday nights in between rounds of WWE Smackdown and Wii? The network apparently did get it's ratings. I dozed off by the twelfth pick. It was like watching a "Housewives of Wherever" marathon--loud, in your face--isn't everything on ESPN-- and with a gaudy sense of fashion. Gotta love some of the size 50 zoot suits suits the players wear. Living room shots of Clausen and McCoy--Colt, not Gerald--flapping in the breeze made for fun viewing. Still, I was laboring to even make it to the New York Giants 15th pick without nodding off. I heard they picked another defensive end. Did Osi retire again?

Back to the experts. The New York Daily News got 5 of the first 32 picks correct--INCLUDING the first four mulligans. The New York Post was 4 of 32 and the esteemed Peter King of Sports Illustrated was 4 for 28 after the first four. I did better in this year's NCAA's and that is not small feat considering that Kiper has a staff of 40 and lunch with football guru, Chris Berman .

After the weekend's spectacle, Kiper barely addressed his fricassee of mis-calculations and blabbed on about next year's early favorites in the draft. Who pays this guy? He is getting credit for making the draft an event. He should get the blame. ESPN did right with John Gruden's breakdown of the top four QB's and, next year, they should promote the ex-coach's opinions--if he's still around. Gruden's thoughts are more valid than the computer-crunching dork, Kiper and some of ESPN's other analysts. They're turning into a male version of "The View" and Chris Mortensen is slowly morphing into Joy Behar. Will the bickering never end?

Roger Goodell and the NFL claimed the show was a ratings bonanza and it quietly buried the Ben Roesthlisberger conundrum underneath all the glitz. It isn't the Super Bowl, but I bet its not too long before Disney (which owns ABC and ESPN) puts it on the regular network. David Stern, of the NBA, has already complained that the evening draft cut into its basketball playoff programming. Sorry David and 'Fringe' fans, coming soon to ABC prime time, "Must Flee TV."

SHORT JABS

The Angels took some of the wind out of the Yankee's sails by taking two of three from the pinstripes this weekend but sound full of hot air themselves. Dallas Braden (who?) threw a tantrum after A-rod stepped on his pitcher's mound. Funny, how A-rod always gets into these quarrels. Glad that Angel's coach, Mike Scoscia (an ex-catcher) called Mark Teixeira's bull-rush into catcher, Bobby Wilson, legit. Hey, if you don't want to get hit, don't block the plate.

Andy Petite pitches like he's found the same fountain of youth Mariano Rivera has been slurping out of. Granderson has cooled off, but I'm not reminiscing about Johnny Damon ...yet. Javier Vazquez has returned to 2004--not in a good way. Gardner is getting to base and leads the league in stolen bases. Nick Johnson is "banged up". So was Hideki Matsui but Godzilla would be, and is, hitting .300.

This pie-in-the-face routine around MLB has to stop. It was funny and spontaneous last year with the Yanks--even though it got tiresome--but now it has turned into The Cleveland Show--a retread of an original flash of genius.

Is it me, or does anyone else notice how loud women's softball is on television? Where does all that chatter come from? It sounds like the miked all the spectators and given the kids free Red Bulls.