Mike Pettine: Johnny Manziel’s off-field issues could hinder long-term success

Johnny Manziel will spend another offseason working to fix his off-field issues, with coach Mike Pettine voicing concerns that they could impact his long-term success.

Pettine and the Browns do have concerns about Manziel in light of several videos that have appeared recently, the most recent showing him with a Four Loko. This comes after he spent ten weeks in a rehabilitation facility during the offseason.

“Here is a guy that has an NFL skill set,” Pettine said, via Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal. “He’s very talented. If you spend some time with him, he’s a likable guy. You root for him. But there are problems there that we’ll talk as we’re headed to the offseason about getting addressed. We want to make sure that all of our players are in good shape as people first, players second because I don’t think you can be as effective as you can be as a player if things aren’t right off the field, and he’s a good example of that.

“I think he’s shown on the field that he can [be the quarterback of the future], but we always talk in terms of long-term, sustained success. And that’s what you want to strive for, and if things aren’t right off the field, that’s very difficult to have that level of consistency, especially when you’re in a position of leadership.”

Thus far in his career, Manziel’s off-field antics have overshadowed anything he’s done on the field. He still has a chance to be a solid NFL quarterback, but Pettine is right that he needs to make sure his life is in order.