Cleveland Browns: Ranking the most important players since 1999
4. Johnny Manziel
Oh boy, this one. If Brian Hoyer was the one to open the Pandora’s Box of bad Browns football, Johnny Manziel was what came out of that box. Maybe the worst part about all of this, though, is that Manziel may have had the talent to succeed. He just wasn’t there mentally.
As the story goes, both head coach Mike Pettine and general manager Ray Farmer wanted nothing to do with Manziel. For them, it was either Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater, or Fresno State’s Derek Carr. But, owner Jimmy Haslam would have none of that.
Haslam, above everything, wanted the marketable, exciting superstar, who the fans could get behind as “their guy.” As the story goes, Haslam actually listened to a homeless man on the streets of Cleveland, who foretold that they should draft Manziel in April 2014.
Related Story: Denzel Ward picks a good player to emulate
So, naturally, Haslam went with financial gain and the homeless man over what would come to be considered common sense. Going against the coach and general manager’s wishes, Haslam slammed his fists on the table for Manziel on draft night.
The rest, they say, is history. Although he showed flashes of quarterback talent in 2014 and 2015, Manziel was a mess above the shoulders. A slew of drinking problems and a domestic violence case later, and Manziel would be out of the league by the end of 2015.
Currently, the one they called “Johnny Football” plays for the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Whether or not his comeback story takes him back to the NFL is irrelevant. What matters is that Manziel nearly single-handedly plunged Cleveland into their worst era of gridiron ineptitude.
As the first qualification states, Manziel has had a pretty large impact on the franchise. Without his antics, who knows if he could have developed into Cleveland’s franchise player? As for his play, he showed flashes at times but was mostly mediocre during his short playing time.
Did Manziel change the course of league history? No, but maybe he could have. And really, that’s the saddest part of all of this. Johnny Manziel really could have been something, if he could get out of his own way.