Cleveland Browns: Did Jim McMahon admit to assaulting Michael Lombardi?

Lost in the claims made against former Cleveland Browns coach Bill Belichick, quarterback Jim McMahon casually says he attacked Michael Lombardi

If you blinked, you would have missed it but Jim McMahon did have a cup of tea with the Cleveland Browns back in 1995.

A two-time Super Bowl Champion (once as the starter for the Chicago Bears and once as the backup to Brett Favre in Green Bay), McMahon started out the 1995 season with the Cleveland Browns — and things went awful according to him.

McMahon recently opened up about how bad it was and made headlines for calling former Cleveland coach, and current New England Patriots coach, Bill Belichick a liar. He says he uprooted his family because of promises made by Belichick but then lost his cool when he was not paid for his time.

Then, he confronted Michael Lombardi who was the director of player personnel at that time. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk quoted McMahon as he talked about this ‘interaction’ with Lombardi, which — if accurate — could really only be described as assault.

"“He looks at me and says, ‘Well, maybe we’ll pay you, maybe we wont.’ And I lost it. I just snapped. I grabbed him by the neck and threw his head against the wall and said, ‘You’re gonna pay me my money.” Then I started realizing what I was doing and I’m looking around the hallway to see if there were any cameras. I stopped hitting him and he slid down the wall.” — McMahon on his time with Cleveland via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk"

It’s a crazy quote that clearly isn’t getting the attention it deserves. McMahon essentially went to the Browns and asked to be paid for the time that he was not on the roster and when he was told they might not pay him, he put his hands on another man and slammed his head against the wall.

He then says he “stopped hitting him and he slid down the wall” which implies there was more than one act of aggression — although just the slamming of a head against the wall is more than enough to be called assault.

In the end, it worked out for McMahon as he got his release and went and won a Super Bowl with the Packers. But if the account is true, that was some great restraint from Lombardi to avoid pressing charges.

McMahon has always been known as a hothead but this part of his quote shouldn’t be ignored, and it doesn’t really paint Belichick out as the bad guy.