Cowboys' decision to draft Zack Martin over Johnny Manziel looks wise

IRVING, Texas — Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was asked again Sunday about what may wind up as the best move he never made when he opted not to draft Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel with the 16th overall pick in May.
"I really have had some very stern, succinct instructions not to mention Johnny anymore from people who count," Jones said following his team's 30-23 win against the Seattle Seahawks.
Jones' son, Stephen, laughed when asked in his office this week if he's the stern one who told Jerry to quit talking about Johnny Football.
"Well, we just got a little reminder from the league that Johnny plays for another team and you can't talk about other players," Stephen Jones, the Cowboys executive vice president, told USA TODAY Sports.
So what happened to convince the billionaire owner that his Cowboys were better off selecting Notre Dame offensive lineman Zack Martin than Manziel?
"Someone said, '(I) stole the card,' " Stephen Jones said. "And I go, 'It was all documented on television. Zack was a top player on our board.
"And it's turned out even better than advertised."
Probably wise, too, considering $108 million quarterback Tony Romo was coming off his second back surgery in a year.
But Longtime scout Walter Juliff's ringing pre-draft endorsement of Martin has proven accurate for a team that's now 5-1 and running the ball better than any team in the league while reducing the burden on Romo.

"Walter said, 'I'm going to make a statement that's going to make everybody drop because we've had a couple of Hall of Fame guards, especially Larry Allen,' " Stephen Jones recalled. "Walter said, 'Zack Martin is the most high-level ready offensive lineman I've ever seen since I've been scouting here.
"That doesn't mean he has Larry's upside. But as far as ready to start from Day 1, Zack was truly plug and play."
It helped that Martin started 52 games for Notre Dame. Stephen Jones said Cowboys coach Jason Garrett "had a huge influence on selecting Martin," who has the quick feet of a left tackle (his primary position for the Irish) but is a mauling finisher as a guard.
Still, Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman wonders how much Jerry Jones wanted Martin over Manziel.
"That story of exactly where Jerry stood will go down in Cowboys lore, because Jerry's been on record saying he wanted Manziel," Aikman, now FOX's lead NFL analyst, told USA TODAY Sports. "Whether he did or didn't, I don't know. ... But it's on record that Jerry felt like taking Zack Martin was like laying up on a par five. And that's not how Jerry was able to buy the Dallas Cowboys.