Johnny Manziel looked completely lost in his first ever NFL start last weekend, which is not all that uncommon for a rookie quarterback. While the Cleveland Browns’ 30-0 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals wasn’t all his fault, Manziel might have performed better if he worked harder on practicing and preparing all season.
Fox Sports broadcaster John Lynch sat down with Manziel for an interview last week. According to Lynch’s colleague Kevin Burkhardt, Manziel came off as very genuine and honest. He even admitted he has not worked as hard as he could have worked this season.
“I thought he gave a pretty honest answer; he said you can’t really compare my work habits to Peyton Manning or Tom Brady,” Burkhardt told Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated. “Manziel said this week he put in maximum effort, that he worked his tail off, and that hopefully it was going to show. He was pretty honest with us on the fact that he put in all this work this week and maybe not for the whole year.
“He came off very honest, maybe even a little naive. John [Lynch] brought up all the great quarterbacks and said they do what Johnny did this week every week.”
Manziel also told Lynch that he has learned more about football from sitting out this year than he had learned in all of his previous 22 years.
“The one thing that impressed me — and the coaches told this to John, too – is that he has been a good teammate,” Burkhardt explained. “Manziel said he thought sitting out was a good thing because he learned more about football this year than he had his entire life. I believed him. I don’t think it was media talk.”
While there are some analysts who believe Manziel will never amount to anything in the NFL, I’m not ready to write him off just yet. That said, Manziel needs to start putting in the work and preparing every week like he is going to play — regardless of if he is starting or not.
Manziel is not going to dominate the NFL with his speed like he did at Texas A&M. He needs to stop feeling entitled and start thinking of himself as a seventh-round pick with something to prove.
