Cleveland Browns "Alarmed" About Johnny Manziel's Behavior, Apparently Had No Internet

The Cleveland Browns selected Johnny Manziel based on a homeless man’s pleas (allegedly). Did that homeless man have access to Twitter and Instagram to be fully aware of Johnny Football’s partying ways? We’ll never know.

Did the Cleveland Browns?

Today, the Cleveland Plain Dealer ran a story about the Browns being “alarmed” by Johnny Manziel’s off-the-field antics since he was drafted. These antics include drinking champagne from an inflatable swan and being photographed in Vegas rolling a $20 bill.

Well, I’ll be. Johnny Manziel, who spent the offseason last year being in the news, is in the news again for what he did in the offseason. The article notes all the things that Manziel said this offseason about how he was a changed man and focused on football. Well, I’ll be darned. Someone said something in job interviews. In other news, I am pissed that this dog I bought barks.

Honestly, this has been a toned down offseason for Manziel. He is a public figure and people tend to notice him out in public, and that’s been elevated even more than a year ago. The Manning Camp thing was, for me, an issue just because he showed up to a camp, rather than spending his own time in Vegas or on Memorial weekend.

So I am not sure what the Browns were expecting. They drafted the guy.

The real reason this story appeared: to fire a shot across Manziel’s bow to get him to focus now that camps have opened. In announcing that he would not be getting reps with the first unit, Pettine said the following of the likelihood of Manziel starting the year at quarterback:

"“I would say it’s a tall task, for a couple reasons. One, he’s a rookie coming in learning the system. It’s not like (Miami’s Ryan) Tannehill, who came in running his college system. He’s learning something that’s completely new to him, so he’s got all new verbiage and reads and that type of thing working against him. “And then the guy he’s competing with is an NFL veteran who’s learned from one of the best in the game, who’s very prepared, very focused. It’s a very true statement, it will be difficult.”"

Take anything said about who will be starting in Cleveland with a grain of salt until we see the third preseason game.