I see a lot of Drew Brees in Manziel

Not in specific style, because Brees is a refined veteran passer and Manziel is a work in progress as a combo passer/scrambler. But, in the way they handle pressure.

They are both short and shorter than their official bio says. Because of this, the Saints put a lot of money into their guards. The tackles just direct the outside rush away, Brees steps into the middle with great footwork and gets the pass off.

Manziel does the same. A&M just directs the outside pass rush just away enough so that Manziel can step into the pocket. Only in his case, he waits for the defensive ends to correct their position (assuming that in most cases they will over-correct), eludes them with his quickness and either fires off the pass or runs away.

They both have incredible quickness in the pocket...those short bursts of speed to get away from defenders. Manziel is fast in the open field too, but its the pocket quickness that makes it work.

This works for both of them because defenses are set up to pass rush from the outside. If the defense blitzes with a MLB or safety coming up the middle, Manziel is still good enough with his feet to get away because no matter who comes at him, he is still the quickest guy there. (In Brees' case, he quickly dumps the pass to his safety valve or to the receiver in the area abandoned by the blitzing defender)

I think this is what caught Alabama last year and this. They kept pass rushing with their defensive ends, and Manziel just kept getting away because there was enough room in the pocket for him to use his quickness.

I re-watched the LSU/A&M game from last year. Chavis really didn't pass rush with his ends. He spread the D-Line way out and had them stay home, ruinning east and west. There were no magic escapes for JFF because there was nothing to escape from. He either had to pass or try to scramble, and the defense just moved sideways to limit his gains. It was a lot like how NFL defenses started to manage Michael Vick in his final years in Atlanta. They just tried to stay in front of him and not give him anywhere to run. Vick passing was never good enough in those days to compensate.

Now, this worked because (a) the LSU defensive line last year were studs (b) they had Minter at MLB to direct traffic, and (c) by not rushing the passer, they put a lot on their defensive backs to keep up with the A&M receivers. This year, they are younger across the board and there is no Minter in the middle, so will the same thing work? I guess we will find out.