The man who drafted Johnny Manziel is pointing his finger firmly at the Cleveland Browns organization for the fact that he has thus far failed as an NFL quarterback.
Ray Farmer, who was general manager of the Browns when the team drafted Manziel in 2014, says the quarterback failed in Cleveland because the franchise was not prepared to deal with the celebrity factor he brought in.
“The club has to be prepared to handle the player regardless of their celebrity, regardless of their position, regardless of what they’re required to do,” Farmer said on Monday’s ESPN “NFL Insiders,” as transcribed by John Breech of CBS Sports.
“It’s celebrity,” Farmer continued. “This player had unique celebrity that I don’t think the league has seen in a lot of different players. A lot of guys come to the NFL and make their celebrity there, this young man came in with a Rolling Stone magazine cover type of persona. That brings a whole new element of how you try to handle the person that comes with it.”
Farmer even felt that Manziel did what was expected of him, but the Browns failed to hold up their end of the bargain.
“In Johnny’s case, I truly feel like a lot of people piled on the young man,” Farmer said. “He’s done his share of helping everybody get on top of that bandwagon, but the reality is the responsibility is born by both the club, and the player.
“When the club doesn’t follow up on its end, it makes it that much easier for players to get off track.”
It’s true that the Browns didn’t quite seem to grasp what they were getting into, but that doesn’t excuse how Manziel carried himself at times. On one hand, the Browns didn’t seem entirely committed to the Manziel experiment – Farmer supposedly didn’t want him in the first place, and the team has never been able to distance themselves from the infamous “homeless person” story. That said, we’re talking about a guy who apparently did not handle adversity well and allegedly showed up drunk to practice. There is no excusing that sort of behavior, and it’s odd why Farmer is so hesitant to hold Manziel accountable, at least in part, for the fact that he failed in Cleveland.
