Last week, Johnny Manziel was demoted from his position as the designated starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns because of video that surfaced of him partying in Texas during the team’s bye week.
On Thursday, Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer reported that there was a little more to the story. Manziel, Glazer reported, lied to the team, saying the video was old and told his friends to lie to the Browns, too. That, for Coach Mike Pettine, was too much and he not only benched Manziel, he demoted him to the No. 3 QB spot.
“I’m especially disappointed in his actions and behavior because he has been working very hard,” he said in a statement released by the team last week. “The improvements from last year to this year have been tremendous but he still has to consistently demonstrate that he has gained a good understanding of what it takes to be successful at the quarterback position on this level. It goes well beyond the field.”
Manziel spent 10 weeks in rehab for an undisclosed issue during the offseason and was designated the starter when Josh McCown was injured. But he continued to get headlines for the wrong reasons. He admitted he had had a couple of drinks in an incident involving his girlfriend last month. He was not charged, but then video of him partying in Austin during the bye week surfaced.
“You know there’s all kinds of people that come out,” Manziel told reporters at a charity event. “Videos can be old. Videos can be all kinds of different things. So like I said, I’m not in a state to be able to speak on it because my focus has been on this today and what really matters in this game on Monday. So that’s where my focus has been. I did get a chance to relax. So I haven’t seen anything like that, and I’m not going to be able to speculate on it right now.”
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