Jerry Jones says Cowboys were 'that close' to selecting Johnny Manziel

As the football world anticipated the Dallas Cowboys' selection of Johnny Manziel with the 16th pick of May's NFL Draft, owner Jerry Jones threw a curveball and selected offensive tackle Zack Martin out of Notre Dame instead.

But it wasn't an easy decision, as Jones, possibly in an attempt to further torture Cowboys fans who were bitterly disappointed with the first-round selection, admitted he was on the verge of drafting the quarterback out of Texas A&M.

“I want you to know that almost as I was handing in the card, it was that close to putting that Manziel card in. It was that close,” Jones said, via the Star-Telegram. “I looked over to my son, Stephen, our chief executive officer, and I said ‘I took the right pick.’ ... He was the top player by three players on our board at the time that we were sitting there looking at him.”

Ultimately, the decision was made with current quarterback Tony Romo in mind and whether the situation would benefit the team.

“The question was, ‘Could we make it work with Tony Romo during the period of time that we are going to have Tony?’ And by the way, my expectations are that Tony will be our quarterback several years to come as we move along."

Jones had previously spoke of the tough decision to pass on Manziel before the draft, but went into further detail Sunday at the team's training camp.

Jones concluded by saying he's confident Manziel will be a successful NFL quarterback and expressed that the difficult decision is one that will be on his mind for the remainder of his life.