One week ago Johnny Manziel was named the Browns' starting quarterback. His status is now up in the air following the release of multiple videos and pictures showing Manziel partying and consuming alcohol, purportedly taken in Texas last weekend during Cleveland's bye week. Browns head coach Mike Pettine indicated that would consider sending Manziel back to the bench.
Johnny Manziel could be benched by Browns after video of bye week partying emerges
The Browns quarterback spent the team’s bye week living the Johnny Football life.
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Pettine added that he was “disappointed” with Manziel.
According to Pettine, Browns quarterback Josh McCown is fully recovered from the rib injuries he sustained and is healthy enough to play Monday.
The videos and images were posted by the website Busted Coverage on Monday. According to the site, they feature Manziel at Austin bars named Rio Rooftop and Summit Rooftop Lounge. Manziel is seen holding a bottle of Dom Perignon in one. Later on Monday, TMZ announced that it had obtained video of Manziel "raging at a nightclub in Austin, TX on Friday night."
Pettine said on Tuesday that he had discussed the topic with Browns general manager Ray Farmer and owner Jimmy Haslam but declined to elaborate.
"When it's a repeated pattern of behavior, it's a concern," he said, via the Cleveland.com. Last January Manziel spent 10 weeks at a drug and alcohol treatment facility.
Manziel spoke to Cleveland.com on Monday while volunteering at the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and suggested that the video is old.
“Videos can be old. Videos can be all kinds of different things,” he said. “So like I said, I’m not in a state to be able to speak on it because my focus has been on this today and what really matters in this game on Monday. So I haven’t seen anything like that, and I’m not going to be able to speculate on it right now.”
But Manziel didn’t deny that he spent some of his off-week partying, despite assuring Pettine beforehand that he wouldn’t.
“I let him know that I’m not going to do anything that’s going to be a distraction to this team or be an embarrassment to the organization,” Manziel said last week of his conversation with Pettine. “I’m going to get a chance to go and relax like everybody else in this locker room is. I don’t think they’re going to have to worry about me this week.”
In October, Manziel was pulled over by police after a domestic argument with his girlfriend got “out of hand,” according to police. No arrest was made but Manziel did tell authorities that he and his girlfriend had been drinking earlier that day.
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