Just in case you were skeptical about the rumors that the Cleveland Browns fully intend to cut Johnny Manziel in a few weeks, veteran offensive lineman Joe Thomas is here to confirm them.
On Thursday, Thomas expressed disappointment in the “sad” ending to the Manziel era in Cleveland.
“It’s a sad end to the story in Cleveland for Johnny,” Thomas said, per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “He’s a guy that personally I like. I believe he has a lot of talent. He’s got the talent to be an NFL quarterback, but it obviously hasn’t worked out so far.”
Thomas was one of multiple Browns players who defended Manziel last offseason, saying that the 24-year-old had turned things around from his circus of a rookie year. Now, it seems like a legitimate possibility that Manziel might never play in the NFL again.
“It’s just a sad turn of events right now,” Thomas said.. “It’s hard to really say too much about allegations because plenty of innocent people get accused of things all the time, so you don’t really know exactly what happened and obviously I wasn’t there so I don’t have a first-hand experience to go off of.
“But whatever he’s dealing with, I hope that he’s able to get that under control and get things straightened out and hopefully if football’s important to him, be able to put everything he has in his life into football.”
Thomas also said that Manziel did, in fact, complain of concussion symptoms during the final week of the regular season, seemingly refuting a report that the Browns lied about the quarterback showing up drunk to practice.
We all know the Browns are done with Manziel, and a report from earlier this week made that seem like even more of a foregone conclusion. They’re only waiting to cut him for salary cap reasons.
