Johnny Manziel was a major distraction for the Cleveland Browns off the field, and a "disaster" on the field. In fact, even when he was playing he managed to ruffle feathers after the whistle was blown. Following months of media silence that began when he checked himself into rehab, a more mature Manziel debuted when he spoke to reporters.
"I feel bad about that throughout the last months of my life really thinking back and seeing how much of my life outside of this field and outside of this locker room was documented," Manziel said.
" It's not fair for Joe Haden to be having to answer questions about me every day. It's not fair for Joe Thomas and all these guys to just continue to have questions asked about me. I don't think that's fair at all and I don't want that on them."
One of the most obvious examples of Manziel's alter-ego "Johnny Football" is his signature money sign celebration. He used it in college-most famously after receiving a weak suspension of the first half of a game following allegations of profiting off autographs-and used it in the NFL as well after he scored his first regular season rushing touchdown.
Of course, Johnny Football is now synonymous with themes like "draft bust," "overrated," and "immature." Manziel is dumping the trademarked celebration. "The money sign will not be back. I will not be making it out there," Manziel said.
Manziel's steps toward maturation are a welcome development for the Browns, who invested the No. 22 overall pick on him last year. His performance on the field needs to be better too, however, because the Browns coaching staff is smitten with veteran offseason addition Josh McCown.
"Until you feel you've found what you would call a long-term solution [at quarterback], I don't think we could have done any better than bringing in a guy like Josh McCown," Browns coach Mike Pettine said.
"To me, time will tell, but there's so much that he does behind the scenes that people just can't appreciate from everything you talk about - leadership, all the intangible stuff. He's truly a team guy. He's all about winning football games."
Manziel told reporters he wants to become that type of player for the Browns.
Whatever I can do to help quiet the noise that has surrounded this team and surrounded myself, I don't want that anymore. I just want to be another player on this team that is in here trying to get better and just trying to be successful," Manziel said.
"My focus is on football. It's what I'm here to do. It's what I love to do and that's what I'm here to talk about today."
[ESPN]
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