Cleveland Browns: Oh no, not another Johnny Manziel comeback?

Warning: If you can’t stand former Cleveland Browns QB Johnny Manziel, you might want to skip this article.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back online in the sports media, former Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel, like Jaws and Freddie Krueger, is back again, once again haunting the sports world. Manziel was the most destructive personality to ever play for the Cleveland Browns, costing the team a first round draft choice, but also taking out the general manager, head coach and starting quarterback and causing the entire team to lose its self respect.

Manziel, out of organized football since 2019, is planning to play for the Zappers, in a new experiment which refers to itself as Fan Controlled Football , which seems to be half football and half Madden, in which the fans call the plays electronically. The league will start February 13.

FCF, according to their website, will be a seven-on-seven game on a 50 yard field, with no kicking or special teams (DPD’s Joel Cade may actually watch if there are no kickers allowed). Teams get the ball at their own 10-yard line automatically. The extra point is a one-on-one battle between a wide receiver and a defensive back.

With the controversial Manziel, people may watch for a while, if he doesn’t wreck the league first.

With the Browns, he came very close to wrecking the entire team.

Late in 2014, influenced by overly star-struck ownership, Manziel took over for Brian Hoyer, who had a lifetime Browns record of 10-6. He ended his Browns career, so deep was the team’s commitment to Manziel over Hoyer. See ya.

The next season, Manziel won two games as a starter in 2015, including an impressive win over the 49ers, 24-10, but he could not stop partying, and the Browns gave up trying to support him.

So complete was the devastation that, from the time Manziel started in 2014 until Gregg Williams became interim head coach in 2018 no other Browns quarterback could win more than one game as a starter until Baker Mayfield broke the ‘Curse of Manziel’.

What? It’s true. Let that bizzare stat sink in. No Browns quarterback would win more than one game as a starter until Baker Mayfield came along in 2018.

In 2015, Josh McCown went 1-7 and Austin Davis was 0-2 for Mike Pettine, while Manziel was the alpha at 2-4.

In 2016, McCown contributed another three losses, Robert Griffin III went 1-4 and Cody Kessler was 0-8.

In 2017, we’ll have to check the film to be sure, but Hue Jackson seems to have gone winless with DeShone Kizer 0-15 and Kevin Hogan 0-1.

In 2018, Tyrod Taylor went 1-1-1 for Hue, and Baker was 1-4 as the starter (remember, he came in for the second half against the Jets). Baker only had one win for Hue as the starting quarterback. He went 5-3 for Gregg Williams.

That’s a stretch from Dec 14 2014, until November 11, 2018 during which time no Browns quarterback had more than one win as a starter.

It is said about great quarterbacks, that they cause the rest of the team to elevate their game to their level. Manziel seemed to have the ability to bring down the Browns to his level. A team that looked like it might be able to contend for the playoffs was suddenly unable to win at all, while Manziel partied his way to football oblivion.

It was especially painful to see Joe Thomas, in the twilight of his Hall of Fame career to see the Browns start to make a move under Mike Pettine, reaching 7-4 at one point, only to see the leader of the team party it all away, and the team fall into complete disarray.

Some fans say that Manziel had no ability, but its not possible to throw for 372 yards versus the Pittsburgh Steelers with no ability. He had all the talent necessary to make it in the NFL, but he was not able to party and play football at the same time. Joe Namath and Ken Stabler could do it. Brett Favre could do it. But Johnny Manziel’s game was not strong enough able to survive immersion in alcohol and whatever other substance du jour he may have been on.

Manziel was cut by the Browns, who paid to have him not be on the team. No other NFL team dared to put him on their roster. He went to the Canadian Football league with the Hamilton Tiger Cats, and the Montreal Alouettes. Not only was Manziel cut by the Alouettes, but the CFL issued an order forbidding any CFL team from ever signing him again.

It is not clear exactly what he did, but the CFL issued a tersely worded statement on its website that he “contravened the agreement which made him eligible to play in the league.” Surprisingly, the US and Canada still have diplomatic relations after that experience. He then would up afflicting the Memphis Express of the Alliance of American Football, which disbanded after two weeks of having him in the league.

So here he is now with the Fan Controlled Football League. All that is well and good. For Manziel, all that should really matter is whether the substance issues are in remission, one day at a time, so that he can lead his life in a more or less normal fashion. Football is secondary. No NFL team could ever risk trusting him under any circumstances, given the massive crater he he has left everywhere he has been.

Truthfully, however, this fan probably has a bit of an addiction problem also — to football. I’ll probably watch.