David Minster, Maroon-News Staff

It looks as if Johnny Football’s light is starting to die out. I’ve followed Manziel since his days at Texas A&M, admiring his arm, ability to escape the pocket and, of course, his partying ways. The Browns knew this guy had an attitude and drafted him in the first round anyway. He had multiple opportunities to prove himself, especially this past season with Josh McCown hurt. Although he did lead the Browns to a few wins, which is impressive in itself, it simply wasn’t enough to solidify his starting spot. His off-field antics were ultimately his demise and the Browns will likely cut him. He’s been recorded partying, he’s been to rehab, he’s partied in Vegas and he’s been accused of domestic violence against his girlfriend. One of his craziest reported antics, which the Cleveland Browns denied, was that he showed up drunk to practice. Any player who has these rumors swirling around him could definitely disrupt and change up the dynamics in a locker room, which would make many teams think twice before signing him. If all these allegations are true and he has taken part in these antics, Manziel’s chances of being signed decrease significantly. Johnny Manziel has to better himself before he can even think of football. Hopefully Johnny Football gets his act together, but until that day, it’s unlikely he’ll be signed. Since he’s still young, Manziel still has time to become a better player and person. If Manziel takes a season off, it would show a lot of teams that he’s matured and is ready to get back on the field. Johnny Manziel will not be in the NFL next year, both because of his constant off-field shenanigans and his immaturity. For now, Johnny Football is plain old Johnny Manziel.

Jacob Adams, Maroon-News Staff

 Johnny Manziel has been nothing short of a train wreck for the Cleveland Browns ever since they drafted him in the first round out of Texas A&M. Cleveland’s new head coach, Hue Jackson, has made it blatantly clear that Manziel will not be playing for the Browns next season, a decision that is mutually beneficial. Manziel never had a chance in Cleveland anyways. That being said, Manziel most likely will not be playing in the NFL in 2016. Despite going to rehab for alcohol abuse last offseason, Johnny has yet to show that he can handle the off-field responsibilities of playing in the league. Reports have surfaced about Manziel showing up to practice drunk, arriving to meetings late and having a series of domestic disputes with his now ex-girlfriend. While there are certainly going to be teams looking for free agent quarterbacks this season, Johnny has given no indication that he could provide anything close to stable quarterback play for a likely mediocre team.

What I foresee happening with Manziel is that he will have to take the 2016 season off. He clearly has had trouble acting like a professional since being drafted, and not taking advantage of his considerable talent would be a waste. If Johnny does decide to put in the work and stay humble during 2016 without any off-field issues, there is no reason he could not be a quality backup in 2017.

Jake Rosenstein, Maroon-News Staff

When the Cleveland Browns drafted Jonathan Paul Manziel with the 22nd pick in the 2014 draft, they knew that they were getting a character, but had no idea what he had in store. The Manziel experiment proved worthless when it was reported that Johnny frequently showed up to practices either hungover or even still drunk from the night before. His drinking and partying issues were too much for the Browns to deal with. Eventually the two sides parted ways following the conclusion of this past season.  More recently he was involved in a physical altercation with his girlfriend. Charges were initially dropped but the police reopened the case when further evidence presented itself. Manziel has been quoted as saying that he wanted to play for Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys, but the question is w Jerry take a chance on him. It would be very surprising to me if Manziel shows up on any future NFL roster. It is unusual for a team to risk bad press by continuing to employ a known domestic abuser (see Greg Hardy or Adrian Peterson) but Manziel’s talent to risk ratio is much worse than either of theirs. For Jerry Jones to take a chance on Manziel, he has a lot of work to do to prove that he is mature and responsible enough to handle the NFL life. If he does not clean up his act, which I don’t think he can or will, Johnny Manziel will never play another down of football again.