Joe Namath: Johnny Manziel has ‘got to live his life, man’

Johnny Manziel was one of the most heavily scrutinized college football players of all time, and the criticism has carried over into the start of his NFL career. Manziel has been partying it up in Las Vegas in between workouts, which has given some the impression that he is not taking his career seriously. Not surprisingly, Joe Namath thinks people need to lay off.

During an interview with NFL Network on Monday, Broadway Joe took a stand against all the Johnny Football haters.

“What difference does it make?” Namath said when asked about Manziel’s party-filled lifestyle, per Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio. “Really? And it is an example of the different eras and time. I do know this about Johnny Manziel, I haven’t seen anyone perform any better than Johnny the last two seasons on that football field. And I do know that we love entertainment.

“Football is a sport but it is showbiz. It is entertainment. And Johnny, he’s got to live his life, man. You know, give him some room.”

One of Manziel’s teammates even admitted earlier this month that all the attention Manziel receives can be annoying. The former Texas A&M star wouldn’t get a lot of that attention if he stayed home instead of raging in Vegas, but he’s an adult who can make his own decisions.

Namath, who said he would “love” Manziel on his team, knows a thing or too about having a good time. He admitted that things may have gone different for him in the 1960s and 70s if cell phone cameras existed.

“I would have had to adjust,” Namath said.

Manziel isn’t going to change. If he’s successful at the NFL level, people will lay off a bit. If he struggles during his first season with the Browns, critics of his personal life will get louder and louder.

Also see: Joe Namath had 300 sexual partners at Alabama, was nicknamed n—er