‘100 Percent Joke’: Did The Cleveland Browns Throw Johnny Manziel Under The Bus?

Is it safe to say that the Cleveland Browns are no longer in love with Johnny “Football” Manziel?

A football franchise will typically keep any and all opinions about disappointing players in-house. If only to present a united front to the public and press. However, it seems that members of the Browns are willing to complain about their disappointing rookie draft pick to whoever will listen.

Johnny Manziel had a rough season, something not all that uncommon for newcomers to the National Football League. Yet, in the opinion of at least one anonymous Browns player, Manziel was from the very beginning a “100 percent joke.”

To make matters worse for Mr. Football, these negative feelings apparently were strongly felt within the Browns locker room even before the season started.

ESPN was told that when the Cleveland Browns interviewed various sources about Johnny Manziel, no one seemed to believe he had the maturity necessary to survive in the National Football League.

Even more alarming, no one would vouch that Manziel ever would.

Adding to this troubling sign was the fact that the “Johnny Football” hype also annoyed and angered quite a few veterans, who resented the “I am a football star” attitude of a young player who had not even began to prove himself as a professional football player.

The NFL is not college football, after all. He would have to familiarize himself with a wide array of calls and plays, and fast.

One source told ESPN that this was an area where Johnny Manziel clearly struggled.

“More than once, teammates corrected the play-call in the huddle, or headed to the line hoping things would work because the call was wrong.

Sometimes, the offense would get lined up wrong because Manziel forgot to read the whole play or got the verbiage wrong (saying ‘left’ instead of ‘right,’ for example).”

And then…there’s the partying.

Late December antics saw Browns security guards sent to Manziel’s house because he was a no-show for treatment following a hamstring injury. Two security guards allegedly discovered “Johnny Football,”, in the words of one anonymous insider, “drunk off his a**.”

Johnny Manziel’s behavior just didn’t seem to be matching up with his promises to renew his commitment to the Cleveland Browns or become a better player next season. While this is worrying for Johnny’s career aspirations, it seems particularly disturbing that this information is steadily flowing to the press.

In actuality, this passive-aggressive behavior between a franchise and it’s “star” player doesn’t really reflect well on both parties.

“Johnny’s his own worst enemy.” http://t.co/92PyEXYJBX pic.twitter.com/KvE0oD13XL

— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) January 24, 2015

Though this turn of events may indicate that Johnny “Football” Manziel’s days may indeed be numbered in Cleveland, it’s rather bizarre, if not a bit disingenuous, for members of the Browns franchise to seek to pin their misfortune on a young player.

As the EPSN article revealed, the Cleveland Browns knew what they were getting into by getting their hands on Johnny “Football” Manziel.

It was also not Manziel’s call that he made his disappointing debut at such a crucial point during the 2014-15 season.

Even though Johnny Manziel needs to mature and grow as an NFL player (and fast), it seems like the Cleveland Browns is just a bit too eager to throw this rookie quarterback under the bus.

Do you think the Cleveland Browns are right to pin so much of a bad season on one player? Do you think these comments from within the franchise mean Johnny Manziel is on the way out?

[Image Credit: cleveland.com]