Was his mouth and/or attitude that much worse than a guy like Newton or Manzel? Did GM's overlook them and pass on AJ just simply because of the perceived talent gap? Disregarding his obvious baggage, I feel like AJ always had a higher ceiling than Manzel for the pro game so why take a shot on Johnny? I am aware of who picked him and their track record, but someone else would have given him a shot as well, at least early second round
The first round is about critical needs and immense talent. A qb that isn't immensely talented is not going first round. I guess Matt Ryan is somewhat of an exception to that rule, but i would argue his scrambling ability and his arm strength got him there. AJ is a Tom Brady carbon copy of a qb with decent arm strength but a high football IQ, but that doesn't mean it is a can't miss talent. Yeah we can say everyone was stupid for letting Brady go to the 5th round, but if we are honest his draft ceiling was 2nd round.
Where the AJ mouth incident comes into play is that you are talking about a mid to late 2nd rounder at best already popping off at the mouth to scouts and back office people saying that he is going in the 1st round so they need to waste a 1st round pick on him to acquire his services. Then everyone got spooked when Bill Belichick pulled the trigger on an Eastern Illinois qb instead of an Alabama qb who happens to be coached by a former assistant coach of his.
There is a huge difference between Tunsil, Cam, and Johnny doing something or saying something very stupid because you can see the talent without having a real game, but with players like Brady and AJ you really need to see them in a game to show their worth.
FWIW. Brady dropped so low because Carr screwed him over with the Henson situation in 99. It was not his ego.