It’s safe to say that if there’s anyone on the Cleveland Browns who has a lot of work to do in order to impress new coach Hue Jackson, it’s quarterback Johnny Manziel.
Despite putting forth a few solid performances in his final games of this past season, Manziel has once again become a hot button topic for his inability to stay out of the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. In the span of only a couple weeks, he was once again filming himself drinking, went on an embarrassingly incognito trip to Vegas before the season ended and was recently spotted taking shots at a Dallas bar.
Knowing that his name has become synonymous with “troublemaker” throughout the NFL, you’d assume that Manziel would be staying out of the limelight during these first few weeks of the offseason, focusing on improving for next year and, at the very least, talking with his new coach.
Which brings us to comments Jackson made yesterday at the Senior Bowl. Asked if he’s spoken to Manziel yet, Cleveland’s new coach claimed he hadn’t reached out to him. He’s reached out to a few players, but Manziel “wasn’t in the first batch of guys.”
While this is all understandable, it also confirms Manziel also hasn’t reached out to Jackson yet in the two weeks since he was hired. Some may see this as no big deal, that it’s totally fine for him to just wait until his new coach gives him a call.
However, when you consider everything surrounding Manziel right now, the fact he hasn’t made any attempt to talk to Jackson says a whole lot.
Again, we’re talking about a quarterback who’s hardly guaranteed a spot on Cleveland’s roster next year despite being under contract. His on-field performance has improved, but not to the point where you could consider him a franchise quarterback. His off-field problems – and the indifference he shows towards them – have become so out of control that many people around the league have given up on any potential he may have. Things have gotten so bad that one of his biggest endorsers, LeBron James, dropped him from his marketing agency.
So, when considering all of this, and the fact that Jackson has already made several non-committal comments towards Manziel, why wouldn’t he feel compelled to at the very least reach out to his new coach? This isn’t to suggest he needs to call Jackson and beg for a second chance (or 34th, but who’s counting?). At the same time, with all of the negativity surrounding his name, reaching out to Jackson certainly seems like a necessity at this point.
That Manziel isn’t reaching out to his new coach, making some sort of effort to imply he’s excited to work with him or wants to prove himself, says a lot. Quite frankly, it says he doesn’t really care about being a Brown.
What other conclusion could you come to at this point? Manziel has been busy making a fool of himself in the past month, to the point where people immediately assumed Jackson would cut him just seconds after his hiring was announced. If you were hearing that the team on the hook for your salary is considering cutting ties with you, wouldn’t you be doing something, anything to at least try and prove your worth?
I’m not saying he should’ve tried to get a hold of Jackson the second he was hired. However, we’re talking about a player who has voluntarily dragged his own reputation through the mud, someone who multiple NFL teams wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole because they don’t want to deal with the off-field chaos. That this same player isn’t putting in even minimal effort to try and talk to the man who will essentially decide his fate in the coming months is quite shocking.
And sure, you can make all the jokes you want, claiming that he obviously wouldn’t want to stay in Cleveland anyway. However, as more videos surface of Manziel drinking heavily as he ironically nears the one-year anniversary of his checking into rehab, he should be less concerned about getting away from the Browns and more worried about just who exactly would take a chance on him if he was cut.
Sure, this may all come off as a big fuss over something not too serious. Regardless, it’s difficult to fathom the idea of a player whose standing in the league is hitting new lows not trying to save some face with his new coach. But hey, if this is all Manziel’s brilliant (?) scheme to escape Cleveland, ignoring his new coach is a great way to keep the dream alive.
