Cleveland State outshot, outrebounded, overmatched by 18-4 Valparaiso
January 29, 2016Boston-born, Cleveland-raised: Jim Donovan receives 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award
January 29, 2016Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam was a hot commodity when it came to interviews at Thursday night’s Greater Cleveland Sports Awards. It should be little surprise, however, that legendary running back Jim Brown was also an object of interest. In an interview with cleveland.com’s Tom Reed, Brown discussed the uncertain future of quarterback Johnny Manziel, saying that he thinks the quarterback could straighten out with the right guidance.
“To be honest, I don’t want to see him traded or anything like that,” Brown said. “I just never feel that’s the answer to anything. But that’s my opinion and I don’t expect you to feel that way. I like Johnny.”
With the Browns spending a first-round pick on Manziel in 2014, Browns thinks that giving up on the quarterback less than two years into his NFL career may be a little too early. But with all of Manziel’s off-field antics, Brown said that he wouldn’t second-guess whatever decision Hue Jackson and Sashi Brown make, whether it be to keep, cut, or trade the 23-year-old.
In part due to his off the field issues, Manziel has started just eight games in two seasons. Accounts and videos of his partying have created a perception that he cares more about enjoying himself than improving his game. Whether it be on the field or off, Manziel has shown that he cannot be the leader that Cleveland needs him to be — at least for now.
Brown, however, thinks the quarterback has a chance to turn it around yet.
“Your leadership has to be able to deal with players and I don’t think that Johnny is a bad guy,” Browns said. “But I think he needs someone to deal with him, give him an opportunity to be the nice Johnny, the intelligent Johnny. From all I hear, he should know what is right and wrong, etc. But we never know what is in the background of any of these youngsters.”
Brown believes there is hope that Manziel can build a stronger relationship with new head coach Hue Jackson than he did with Mike Pettine. If a bond of mutual respect is developed, perhaps Manziel will act more grown up.
“I like Johnny and I know a lot of kids that if you don’t know how to deal with them, you lose them,” Brown said. “They don’t come ready made, but on the other hand the argument is he’s a man. He should know how to conduct himself. He has an opportunity and we’ve got all of that, but I like him and I hope they are able to relate and if they are able to relate then he will respect the coach.”
Brown may have given the thumbs-up to the quarterback, but what’s next? Observers have tried to read the tea leaves vis-à-vis Manziel’s future, which as of now remains unclear. In the meantime, at least someone is showing Johnny some love.
77 Comments
It’s real simple, you have a guy who is supposed to lead the team and set the tone. Yet he spent his first year saying all the right things then failing to follow through with what he said. Think about what the veterans on the team were saying about him last year after the season ended when an undrafted rookie clearly outplayed him. He lost the trust of the team. Then in the offseason the team lets Hoyer (a respected player in the locker room) walk without even talking to him about staying. They do this in order to have no competition for Manziel. Then he fails to beat out Josh McCown in training camp. During the season he’s quickly inserted due to injury. He has one good game against what turns out to be the worst team in the league. He ends up back on the bench, but over the course of the season plays in more than half of the games. Of the three QBs that played this year he was statistically the worst. Over the course of the year he starts falling back into his old ways and then he lies to not only the coaches, but to the rest of the team. People wonder what was said to Thomas, and Mack and to the Free Agents that we hope to retain? I’m willing to bet they made it clear that this kid will be moved in the offseason after receiving multiple statements from players saying they no longer want this guy on their team and can’t trust him (for good reason). Perhaps in time Manziel will find a home in the Arena League. He’s obviously not placing being a QB in the NFL as his first priority.
I mean lets look at at keeping him vs cutting/trading. Absolute worst case if we keep him until say training camp and he screws up, WE CAN STILL CUT HIM.
Absolute worst case we trade him for a 6th round pick, HE COSTS US A SUPER BOWL( it could happen right? right???) and the pick is the next vince mayle
i agree with jim brown. You don’t give away talent because your mediocre coach couldn’t handle it.
totally – show me a better backup QB in the NFL than Manziel. But I still want to roll w him as the starter.
correct. Mike Pettine screwed up in his handling of Manziel. He never wanted him, never liked him, and never treated him any other way. He was doing all he could to fan the flames.
Now that Pettine is gone, i expect Manziel to be improved.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/91/95/9a/91959ae3f9ec5cce929607a2427ac534.gif
old habits die hard. haha!
dude- it was Mike “high school rules” Pettine. You never heard anyone say anything about Manziel. Even Joe Thomas was backing him. On top of that, we STILL have no evidence of a Vegas trip. I’m not saying where there’s smoke there isn’t fire, but cmon.
This is the NFL. Guys want to win. They don’t care if their QB is out carousing as long as he throws TDs on Sunday. Manziel gives those guys hope. And he’d look even better with Tunsil on the OL!
Bread sucks without butter
I think Jackson understands that these guys are professionals. It doesn’t take a genius to realize Pettine was overmatched. He is a good coordinator but not yet a good head coach.
what does he need to change? The only thing that needs to change is the public perception.
Sometimes, the only difference between a fool and a genius is the audience.
downtick for upvoting your own comment.
he didn’t say he was good.
Or he could have been like Dwayne Bowe: missing games while standing in uniform on the sideline.
did you just say I’m Gonna Get You Sucka?
what undrafted rookie outplayed Manziel? he was CLEARLY the best QB on the roster this season.
Does Johnny literally have to stab your mother before you acknowledge he has to go? Or would it be fine with you since it was off-the-field?
I know it’s only a theory, but it’s the theory that I am buying based on Manziel’s actions. He’s a smart kid… he knows to keep his mouth shut and not talk to the media. He’s not going to give you anything either way because he’s not talking. You are welcome to take the “innocent until proven guilty” stance, but I don’t need to do that. I am not sitting on a jury, I’m just some random dude on the internet who has heard all of the facts and has heard stories from sources who I believe are credible. All of those pieces to the puzzle add up for me. They all make sense when put together. The nearly-finished puzzle that I’m seeing is a kid who suffers from “affluenza” and has not had the actions of a person who puts his job above his personal life. I see that as a problem that won’t be fixed by a new head coach.
I think you’re almost certainly right, but that’s a separate issue.
I don’t think anyone is saying the team played poorly because of Manziel. On the contrary, he seemed to play pretty well this season. But the kid can’t stay out of his own way off the field. You can choose to keep your fingers plugged into your ears to ignore what sources are saying anonymously, but I think that’s naive. There’s no slander project going on here. There are plenty of players in all sports who have as much attention on them as Johnny, but he’s one of the very few who seems to be unable to stay out of the limelight for the wrong reasons. He’s an incredibly popular player among fans because of his college heroics, yet his own agent dropped him as a client! Who does that??? Do you think giving up on a player with Manziel’s popularity is something that an agency does on a whim? They had to have a real reason for concern to drop him.
Depends what he stabbed her with most likely.
You and I clearly have a different definition for the word smart.
I was trying to think of a better way to word it after I wrote it, but got lazy and just left it there. Maybe what I meant to say is that he has plenty of intelligence and uses it judiciously. He’s smart in very specific scenarios.
Could you provide me with such an example?
I thought I did… he doesn’t talk to the media except to say boilerplate stuff. He basically never incriminates himself with anything that he says to the media. As stupid as he is in so many areas of life, he’s very smart about talking to the media.
Oh well the media as Garry Owen likes to point out that’s the media. Plus lets face it the Ohio Sportswriter of the Year has a crush.
I’d be fine with that as long as the Browns won the Super Bowl. He could stab my wife and daughter, too. If he got my son we’d have to have a talk.