When we posted a video of Johnny Manzielrapping along to Future’s “March Madness” yesterday, we had NO idea that it was going to be received the way it did. Was it a great look for Manziel to be swinging a bottle of champagne around in a nightclub less than a year after he spent time at a rehab facility? No. But the video didn’t feature him drinking the champagne, and he wasn’t really acting all that recklessly. So we didn’t think it would turn into that big of a deal.
We were wrong! Over the last 24 hours, Manziel has come under attack from all sides with everyone from Skip Bayless to his own head coach Mike Pettine calling him out for spending his bye week partying. Manziel didn’t do himself any favors when he defended his actions by saying that the video may be “old” (FWIW, “March Madness” came out after he went away to rehab, so even if the video is “old”—which it’s most likely not—it’s not that old) and, by this afternoon, it sounded like Pettine was seriously considering benching Manziel, just one week after the Browns announced that he would be the team’s starter moving forward. And now, that's exactly what Pettine has done. He has decided to move away from Manziel and put Josh McCown back into the starting lineup.
Oh, and that’s not all. Not only will Manziel not be the starting QB for Cleveland, but he also won’t be the Browns’ backup. Austin Davis will serve as the second-string QB with Manziel bumped all the way down to third-string QB. Pettine explained his decision after practice today.
“Everyone in this organization wants what is best for Johnny just like we do for every player in our locker room," he said. "I’m especially disappointed in his actions and behavior because he has been working very hard. 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. We are going to continue to support him in every way possible, but at this point, we’ve decided it’s best to go with Josh as the starter going forward.”
Suddenly, that clip of Manziel rapping along to Future isn’t as fun as it was yesterday. Is there any way Manziel can bounce back from this latest setback in Cleveland?
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[via Cleveland Browns]
