NFL Draft 2014: Simon Veness looks back at the fallout

William Shakespeare asked the question first (in his comedy 'As You Like It') - can you have too much of a good thing? And pundits the length and breadth of America have been repeating it ever since the final echoes of this year's NFL Draft died out last Saturday.

Since then, we have been regaled with the fact that Manziel has the fastest-selling jersey in recent history and queried whether Johnny will become an Ohio resident due to the state's income tax laws (which require residents to actually pay income tax, unlike his native Texas - and Florida, Washington, Wyoming, South Dakota, Alaska and Nevada. Florida and Nevada I can understand, but South Dakota? Well, I guess you have to have some reason for people to go there!). We have asked if the Aggies will rename their stadium The House That Johnny Built and started the countdown to the first bust-up between the player and the front office. For the latter, consider these two salient facts: 1) The Browns have already announced access to the players (i.e. their first-round Draft pick) will be limited this off-season, and... 2) Owner Jimmy Haslam has already reminded Manziel he will start the build-up as the team's back-up, and would he please act accordingly? This narrative is surely going to be the recurring theme through July, August and beyond and, if Cleveland thought they could blithely snatch this one-man publicity machine and just ride off into the sunset until September, they have got several major re-thinks to do en route to 100 Alfred Lerner Way (the official address of their FirstEnergy Stadium). Not only that, but a slightly bigger footballing conundrum has been aired fairly extensively since weekend reports of star wide receiver Josh Gordon's potential full-season ban hit the daily news cycle harder than Chris Froome on l'Alpe d'Huez. Almost to a man, the US sports media asked: "The Browns picked a new quarterback, knowing his top target could be MIA and they never selected even one new wideout with their other five picks?" Sure, the likes of Miles Austin and Santonio Holmes are both still unsigned free agents, but can you honestly see either of those getting in the same zip-code as Gordon's 87 receptions and 1,646 yards in just 14 games in 2013? No, I thought not. So, if Manziel is going to be the starter come September 7 at Pittsburgh, they are either going to have to hope third-round pick Terrance West develops into the second (and third) coming of Adrian Peterson, or they can try to prise another top receiving prospect out of someone like Seattle (Sidney Rice?) or New Orleans (Kenny Stills?). Watch this space, as they say.

Sam The Ram

Of course, we can't let any review of recent events pass without that seventh-round emotional explosion that was Michael Sam following his selection by St Louis. As the first team to field an African-American player, the Rams have now completed a notable double with the openly gay Sam and that really will be an absolute TV-fest in the weeks and months to come as much of the news media wait to see if he makes the roster or not. It is genuinely one of the most watchable stories on our pre-season calendar and you can be sure Sam the Ram will be the subject of any number of talk-show topics in that time (notwithstanding the fact his sexuality has already been criticised by none other than Donald Trump, that beacon of intellect and fair-minded clarity). The former Missouri star certainly has a whole new fan-club already and, who knows, if he also starts against Minnesota on September 7, St Louis could well have quite a few new followers, too. As a final thought on the weekend's events, and, as a closet Michigan State fan (it's my wife's family - long story), there are two players who signed as undrafted free agents this week who are worth keeping an eye on. Max Bullough is a true bullock of a middle linebacker and is quite likely to catch on in Houston after signing a FA contract with the Texans (and how they have improved an already formidable defence). Equally, Cincinnati may well have added a significant new defensive backfield hitman in the shape of former Spartan Isaiah Lewis - deemed too slow by some scouts who obviously didn't notice how hard he hit people in the Big 10 and the Rose Bowl last season. If the old adage of 'defence wins championships' still holds true - and we know it does after witnessing Denver getting creamed all over the New York turf last February - then the Texans and Bengals are certainly going to be in the mix, and both the AFC North and South are going to be no-go zones for opposing offences. You can hear the bruises going purple already...