Johnny Manziel’s latest comments are another reminder of why his NFL career never got off the ground.
The former Heisman Trophy winner and 2014 first-round pick of the Cleveland Browns was out of the league by the end of the 2015 season, and within a few years of his release from the NFL, he was done with football altogether. Now, a resurfaced clip from Shannon Sharpe and Chad Ochocinco’s “Nightcap” podcast has brought Manziel back into the conversation for all the wrong reasons.
In the clip, Manziel made it clear he still holds onto bitterness toward Cleveland.
“I sit here today and I go back on forth, am I going to let Cleveland off the hook, let it go or am I going to sit here with hate and animosity in my heart for the rest of my life,” Manziel admitted. “I finally sit here today, and I’m like, [Expletive] it, I think I’m gonna be (upset) at them and hate them forever. It is what it is man, no love for the Browns.”
That didn’t sit well with everyone in the city. Tony Rizzo pushed back on his Cleveland radio show, saying, “What did anyone do to you, except root for you to win,”
Manziel’s response came fast, and it was loaded with profanity and frustration.
“Rizz, you stupid (expletive). These comments were made in October of last year but of course you bored (expletives) in the Cleveland media have nothing to speak about because your quarterback stopped (expletive) massage therapists and you can only speak about losing so much to all of the people that listen to this trash (expletive) show.
My tenure in Cleveland was doomed by a lot more people than just (me). I’ve taken plenty of responsibility for my failures in that building and in that city.
By the way have you spoke to or about or 6th pick in the draft that year Justin Gilbert lately? Or what about our all world coach that was hired Mike Pettine?
Tom Brady couldn’t have won with our roster from 2015. Just move on, (expletive) off and leave me out of this (expletive),” he said.
The rant doesn’t exactly read like the voice of a steady NFL quarterback or a locker-room leader. Manziel is fair to point out that Cleveland didn’t give him the cleanest path to success, and the system around him was shaky. But he also didn’t do himself any favors, and this latest exchange shows the same immaturity that helped sink his career in the first place.
It’s a frustrating ending to a story that once carried so much promise. Manziel had real talent, and with a better head on his shoulders, he probably could have stuck around in the NFL for a long time.
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