Fresh out of rehab, Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel is making the "I'm sorry I've wronged you" rounds in between hitting up Rangers baseball games (as you can see above, he was spotted chilling at one earlier this week). While in rehab and amidst reports of his teammates losing trust in him, he's been dangled around the league as trade bait, but teams have yet to bite. (Trading for a quarterback while he's in rehab seems a bit taboo anyway.) Nearly three years removed from winning the Heisman, Manziel's football career is a toss-up right now, and he seems to be well aware of that.
Now that he's out, Manziel's trying to repair the damaged relationships that came out of his first NFL season, which he characterized as something that he should've "taken more seriously." He released a public statement apologizing to the Browns, his teammates, and his fans for his "actions."
While he won't say what he was in rehab for (Caron Pennsylvania, the facility he stayed in for over two months, treats drug and alcohol addiction), he asked for continued privacy in his uphill battle to become Johnny Football (emphasis on the "Football" part) once again. Read it in full below:
“I would like to thank my family, friends, the Browns organization, my teammates, and Browns fans everywhere, for your patience, understanding, and support during my stay at Caron. The doctors and staff have been amazing and what I’ve learned in the last couple of months has been tremendous. I owe private apologies to a lot of people that I disappointed but a very public one to the Browns organization and the fans that I let down. I take full responsibility for my actions and it’s my intention to work very hard to regain everyone’s trust and respect. I understand that will take time and will only happen through what I do and not what I say. I also understand there’s a lot of curiosity about this but anyone who has a friend or family-member that’s been through things like this knows it’s an ongoing process. I’m going to continue to ask folks to try to respect my privacy as I determine to what degree I am comfortable talking about a subject which I consider very personal. Most of you have been considerate about that and I thank you for it. I look forward to seeing my teammates next week and focusing on football and my desire to be the best possible player, teammate, and man that I can be.”
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[via BlackSportsOnline]
