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Johnny Manziel’s long-time friend says going to Cleveland was the worst thing ever



Thursday morning, Vanity Fair posted a very lengthy article detailing the issues that have long-plagued former Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel, including his journey to and out of the NFL. The article is titled, “The Fight to Save Johnny Manziel from All-Out Self-Destruction.”

I wouldn’t blame you if you think to yourself, “Nope, I’ve had enough with this [insert expletive] already,” and choose to close this article right now. However, I still think it is relevant to expound upon the narrative that was Johnny Football in Cleveland when new information (even if some of it was assumed) becomes available.

Some of the quotes below came from Steven Brant, who is listed as “Johnny’s longtime best friend.” We’re skipping all of the college stuff and focusing on his time with the Browns, beginning right at the point he was drafted:

With Steven Brant at his side at Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden, Manziel was drafted by the Cleveland Browns with the 22nd pick of the first round. ... .Johnny and Steve ran out and immediately bought all the Browns hats and jerseys they could carry. “It really wasn’t until the flight home that it sunk in, you know—it’s Cleveland,” Brant says.

Yes, what a drab this city is. Brant goes on to say how going to Cleveland “was just the worst thing ever” and that the playbook was too difficult to learn:

“Going to Cleveland was just the worst thing ever,” says Brant. “He never felt he had any chance to succeed there. I mean, from day one. They didn’t get him any help, no receivers, nothing.” And Manziel wasn’t joking about his difficulty learning the Browns playbook; at A&M he hadn’t used one, instead perusing a brief game plan for each contest. “The only time I worried about Johnny was when I looked at that playbook, all those plays,” says Brant. “It was so complicated.”

When Brian Hoyer started losing his flare in 2014, the Browns turned to Manziel, and were destroyed by the Bengals 30-0. A different friend of Manziel’s relayed what the troubled quarterback said about his teammates:

“It was pretty apparent that the lack of preparation, the lack of commitment, derailed him,” says a friend. “In private, [Manziel] said, ‘The team quit on me.’ ”

When Manziel went to rehab, the article says that it was completely his own decision and that he just woke up one day feeling he needed to go. Flashforward to the 2015 season, when Manziel had beat the Tennessee Titans in Week 2, and then was sent back to the bench in favor of Josh McCown for Week 3:

Thus Manziel, and much of the N.F.L., was stunned when McCown recovered and was named to start Game Three. Johnny was distraught. His friends blamed the team. “The Cleveland Browns suck,” says Jim Muncie, a longtime friend from Kerrville. “They suck as an organization. They suck from ownership on down. They had terrible coaches and did a terrible job with Johnny. Pettine, he’s a nice guy, but he’s not a head coach. The chemistry was never good.”

What worried Manziel’s family and friends was how Johnny would fill the void of not starting. “That boy, he can’t ride the bench with nothing to do,” Muncie observes. “That’s when he tends to get into trouble, you know.”

Lastly, we have the situation of Manziel being benched during the bye week for lying about a video shot of him:

“He was just having a good time,” says Brant. “He went into the D.J.’s booth at one place, and the D.J. shot some video and posted it. We were on the phone the next day when the video came out. Johnny was already back in Cleveland. I refreshed my Twitter and there it was. I said, ‘Did you watch this video?’“ ‘What video?’“I told him.

He said, ‘I’ll call you back.’ When he does, he goes, ‘Well, I’m [censored].’ ”Brant sighs. “It wasn’t this crazy weekend,” he insists. “It was just a normal weekend.”

So, after everything that has gone on, what does Brant think Manziel’s problem is?

“Johnny doesn’t have a drug problem. He has a ‘having fun’ problem,” insists Brant. “I think I know him better than anyone. He’ll be fine. Believe me.” And then Brant smiles and mentions the popular documentary series on ESPN. “You know what?” he says. “The 30 for 30 is going to be great.”

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiigggggggghttttt.

Johnny Manziel

That story will not help Manziel's cause.

so basically i just read an article where is homeboy just made a laundry list of BS excuses for him.

I thought the article was pretty great. Really shows what trash the dude is. The author's restrained, belittling style was perfect. While the kids got their side of the story in, the author laid it pretty bare for everyone.

My God. I really want to know who drafted this guy. Did the Browns do zero research on who he was off the field before the draft? Like my God, this kid was a trainwreck coming 10 miles away. Everyone saw it. It was Haslam, right? Heckert backed off of the pick, Pettine disowned the kid, so it had to be him. Right?

Anyway, you cannot draft a QB who sees the bars more time than he sees barbells. It kills me we drafted him over Teddy Bridgewater. Teddy has probably never seen the inside of a bar. Especially a night before the game, unlike Manziel. Bridgewater, the night before a game, is probably watching film, reading his playbook, and writing poetry. He's a dang saint. I can't believe we didn't take him. I really thought we had him.

Teddy! Teddy! Teddy!

If we're going the saint route, I'd take Wentz over Teddy. Just saying.

Kessler seems pretty anti-Manziel, too. I've seen lots of coming early, staying late, studying articles. It is still the "honeymoon" period, though.

so Johnny blames everything on the team/FO??

LOL okay

Was that a real article?? Seriously?!? What a bunch of entitlement bull crap that is...

Wentz and Teddy were in different drafts. Teddy and Manziel were in the same draft.

Thank you! Thank you!

So he knew he'd struggle with the playbook but thought it was fine for him to go out partying instead of doing what he was paid to do...which was study the playbook. If Manziel didn't want to ride the pine he just had to show dedication to his craft. Instead he slammed bears with his loser buddies at casinos. His buddy is as big a loser as he is. An enabler of the first degree.

Agreed. It comes off as petty whining. "I never had a playbook before, and then they wanted me to learn a playbook, and I couldn't." Take that crap out of here. Oh.........he did.

Booze? Playbook. Job? Booze? Lemme see.........

All true. But, here is something many on here don't want to hear........as bad as JM was..............Gordon was worse.

I thought the thread was about Manziel.

You constantly bitch about not sticking with the thread, yet you do it constantly. Sorry I have to point it out to you. Others do as well.

x2

what an arrogant, entitled baby

The Vanity Fair article is really really good. Look it up.

Bradford! Bradford! Bradford !

Wentz! Wentz! Wentz!

That was a good read. It describes what really went down with a lot of Johnny's incidents. Cliffs: What us fans were told was BS in almost every case

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/10/the-fight-to-save-johnny-manziel-from-self-destruction

“Johnny doesn’t have a drug problem. He has a ‘having fun’ problem,” insists Brant."

Gee, that one has never been used by an addict and/or his/her enabler before.

I don't care what you think.

The two have had similar problems. They are related. Manziel took a lot more grief from posters than Gordon did. The fact remains that Gordon's sins were worse.

Debating who's the biggest loser out of two losers seems... well you figure it out.

Yep, I just read it myself, good read.

He was obviously out of control here. I just hate when people enable that behavior and make it worse.

And I hate that we drafted him.

Playbook probably wouldn't seem so hard if you showed up on time, sober, and gave a damn.

If the playbook was the problem, he'd have had trouble no matter where he went.

If Johnny performed half, or even an 1/8th as good as Gordon did then all of this discussion would be moot. No one would care if he lived every day with a hangover if he was good. However, he wasn't. Yes, Josh has screwed up, but at least he worked hard while he was here. Johnny didn't work hard at anything.

Good point.

Just a few notes.



I've never been there, but I can't assume Minnesota is the most happening place in the country, and that was the moSt likely other destination, but at least there he'd of been compared to Fran Tarkenton, every day, for the rest of his life..



I have no words for this that I can say on this board..




I like how he said THE lack of preparation, not Manziels..



Ok, now this just a depressing level of enabling, mostly whining. Go away forever please.

Are you upset w/Gordon for checking himself into rehab 4 days prior to reinstatement when he had 1.5 years to get himself ready?

Pick and choose. Not very credible.

I thought this was a Manziel thread?

Of all people...............LOL

Gordon and Manziel are closely connected, in case you never followed the news.

They sure have, and I don't think that it has been good for either one of them. I hope that both guys manage to get their lives together.

Didn't Manziel make that phone call wanting to blow up the league?

The playbook was complicated, it had 'X's and 'O's and lots of arrows pointing in different directions....He's used to bottle caps, little stones and drawing plays up in the dirt.

What would he have done if he had Mike Martz as a coordinator? His head would have popped off.

Let's blame everything and everyone else and not take any responsibility for one's actions. Typical of the loser mindset these days.

LOL...........very true.

What an opportunity Manziel wasted. Someday he probably will look back and have deep regrets.

Josh Gordon as well.

It's really sad when you have a player who works his butt off at everything ..... who studies every waking moment .... who always wants as much information as he can soak up ..... but who just doesn't have enough talent to make it in the NFL.

It is even sadder when a player with enough talent to be a star throws away what the other player would almost kill for.

Boo hoo!