Just ask Manziel.
The 2012 Heisman Trophy winner told the Dan Patrick Show on Wednesday just how unprepared he was for the NFL – and how little the Browns did to make up for his shortcomings.
"If Cleveland did any of their homework they would have known I wasn't a guy who came in every day and watch film. I wasn't a guy who really knew the X's and O's of football." - Johnny Manziel on @dpshow
— Andrew Perloff (@andrewperloff) April 4, 2018
Johnny Manziel tells @dpshow that he didn't understand pro offense coming out of Texas A&M's spread and there was no one in the Browns quarterback room to help him.
— Andrew Perloff (@andrewperloff) April 4, 2018
In the full interview, Manziel takes the blame for his inability to adjust to life in the NFL before he found himself out of work and facing legal troubles in 2016.
Some in the short-sighted social media hoard unsurprisingly accused him of “blaming the Browns” for his failures, but that’s not really fair or accurate.
Manziel makes clear he fell short because he didn’t understand what it took to succeed at the highest level, a challenge no doubt faced by many rookies.
(He’s also pretty brutal in assessing how little the spread offense at Texas A&M prepared him for playing quarterback in the pros.)
If the Browns did not provide an adequate safety net for him – or know ahead of time he would need more guidance than the average newcomer -- they do deserve some of the blame for the whole thing not working out.
“I don’t know if I was just tired or overwhelmed with everything that was going on in my life – I’m not going to make an excuse for it,” Manziel said. “At the end of the day, it’s completely my fault in how I treated my job as far as being a first-round pick and a guy they wanted to turn a franchise around. I didn’t work hard enough to be that guy, and it’s a regret I’m going to have to live with.”
Draft a QB in the first round and put him into a toxic Quarterback room vs. what it was like my second year with McCown. COMPLETELY different situation. It’s all about the right fit and mine in Cleveland wasn’t right. That’s just the facts. I also have nobody to blame but myself https://t.co/fuFmtG4vUz
— Johnny Manziel (@JManziel2) April 4, 2018
Now married and sober, he is giving pro football another shot.
What he hopes is a long road back to the NFL begins with something called “The Spring League,” that bills itself as “an elite developmental league & scouting event for professional football talent” in Austin, Texas.
There are four teams in the league, and they will play two games apiece in April.
Then what?
Well, we know of a certain NFL owner in Southwest Ohio who loves nothing more than a good redemption story…
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