Last week it was announced that the Cleveland Browns were dropping Johnny Manziel from their roster after only a couple short seasons. Let’s be real. Is it really a surprise that Manziel was cut from the Cleveland Browns? No, it really and truly is not. In fact, I’m pretty surprised that he lasted that long on a roster during a time period that the NFL is supposedly trying to “clean up their act” when it comes to their athletes’ behaviors on and off the field. I’m not going to tell anyone “I told you so,” either, but I called this from the moment he announced that he was entering the draft early.

Somewhere lurking around in the purgatory of the Internet is a rant I posted about what an idiot Manziel was for making the choice to leave college early, and to this day I still believe it. Yes, I get that he was the first college freshman to win the Heisman trophy, Manning Award, and Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award among many other awards in his redshirt year. Sure, he broke plenty of NCAA records and made nearly impossible athletic feats look like it was simple and sure he has a few collegiate bowl MVPs, but think about it for a second. Let’s not pretend that winning the Heisman didn’t go straight to Johnny Football’s head. Yes, it was a great accomplishment, but the negative attention that followed with his excessive partying didn’t only look bad on him, but it reflected on his team and school. Manziel brought national negative attention to himself by befriending singer Drake, multiple appearances at NFL and NBA events along with casinos, and eventually autograph profiting allegations that led to a half-game suspension. Then instead of taking the time to continue with A&M where he would likely improve his already remarkable athleticism and his maturity level over the next two years, he let money talk, and announced he would be entering the draft. I said then and there that Johnny wouldn’t last three years in the NFL. Well, here we are... Johnny Manziel is jobless.

I’m not sure if anyone remembers the 2014 draft like I do, but I remember Manziel impatiently waiting for his name to be called. Fans and some experts were absolutely sure that the beloved, controversy stricken Johnny Football would go first. After all, he had the stats for it, didn’t he? He would make it in the NFL and clean up his act quickly to remain. The Houston Texans came in with the first pick and picked Jadeaveon Clowney, the Rams took Greg Robinson, and then the Jaguars did the unthinkable: drafted a quarterback who wasn’t Johnny Manziel. With the third pick, Jacksonville shocked people when they picked UCF’s Blake Bortles who not very many thought was worthy of being in the top five picks. Pick number 16 rolled around and fans all over the country were absolutely certain (hell, even I was certain) that Jerry Jones would pick the young quarterback. Why wouldn’t they? Johnny was from Texas, Cowboys fans liked him, and his name would sell merchandise and tickets even if it meant that he was sitting the bench. The Cowboys had treated Johnny to a number of experiences and made it clear that he was in the running to be picked up by Dallas, but when a name was called it was an offensive lineman from Notre Dame, not a quarterback from College Station. Manziel now started to look irritated, fed up with even being at the draft, and frankly just uninterested. It also seemed as though he were looking through his contacts and connections begging someone, anyone, to draft him.

Six agonizing picks later, the Cleveland Browns took Johnny Manziel as the 22nd pick of the NFL draft. I, for one, wasn’t super disappointed that it took him so long to be drafted. Jokes were being made about quite possibly the most controversial player in college football at the time and I was pretty content. Like I mentioned before, though, you also have to keep in mind that the NFL is trying (even if it’s apparent that they aren’t really trying all that hard) to get rid of negative limelight being brought to their organization. I’m sure somewhere in the decision making for the first 21 teams that passed Johnny Football up there was the thought that with his bad boy reputation he wouldn’t bring them the best attention. Would he clean up his act? Later, we would find out that he wouldn’t. Something else that needs to be considered is the fact that his style of quarterbacking isn’t what NFL teams are looking for. Sure he’s fast, sure he was pretty accurate in college, but a quarterback keeping the ball more times than he’s throwing it? The NFL keeps making it clear that a running quarterback isn’t going to last very long in the league, we saw this with the curious case of Tim Tebow who’s style is not much different than Manziel’s own.

In his rookie season with the Browns, he played five games but only started in two and his stats were incredibly low when it came to what they probably should have been. He shocked people with his playing, but not in the way a good athlete should. In fact, he was doing flat out awful. Photos surfaced throughout the season of Johnny up to his regular partying antics with no surprise to anyone then he followed the season by entering rehab for his alcoholism. Manziel returned in 2015 for the Browns and it wasn’t really a shock to me that before long he was getting into trouble again. During the Browns’ bye week, a video surfaced of Manziel partying. Not only was he proving that rehab did nothing for him, but he lied and got his friends to lie for him about the video. Long story short, coaches found out about the partying, driving under the influence, domestic violence, and lying then decided to bench him so hard that he’s not even backup, but instead the third string. After losing 37-3 against the Bengals, it was announced that Manziel would be starting pending any possible screw-ups he may have during the week as Cleveland tried to avoid their eighth consecutive loss.

Please don't ask if Manziel can still be a viable QB in NFL. That kid needs help. Who cares about football when your life is this lost?
— Chris Rose (@ChrisRose) March">https://twitter.com/ChrisRose/status/7083347262562... 11, 2016

At this point, I think it comes as no surprise that Manziel is searching for a landing spot. The kid doesn’t care about anything other than himself. For example, after a press conference concerning his bye-week shenanigans, he said, “I don’t have a drinking problem, the team has a problem with me drinking.” Where in that statement does he show that he cares even a little bit about the wellness, reputation, and chemistry of his team? Later into the season, it was reported that his father feared for his son’s life. If he didn’t get the help he needed, it was likely he wouldn’t live much longer. If that’s not a cry for help then what really is? I think it’s about time that someone steps up and saves Johnny from himself even if it’s the last thing that he wants. Manziel is also currently involved in a case of domestic violence after ex-girlfriend Colleen Crowely reported that he struck her causing a busted eardrum and then disappeared into the Fort Worth night before, then found by the Fort Worth police.

Football has to be taken away for Manziel to begin to turn his life around.
— Greg Bailey (@GregBailey13) March">https://twitter.com/GregBailey13/status/7083325425... 11, 2016

Is it likely that we will see Johnny Manziel make an offseason self-recovery, show up for a team, and have a remarkable comeback during the 2016 season? Probably not. Rumor had it for a while that Jerry Jones and the Cowboys were looking into picking Johnny Manziel up if the a Browns do dropped him, which wouldn’t have really been a surprise to me seeing as how they have no problem signing players with scandalous backgrounds (take Greg Hardy for example), but after the season representatives for the team confirmed that they would not be picking up Johnny Football. As of right now, the formerly bright future Manziel is ending his NFL career with pretty bad stats after playing in 15 games, starting in eight, and winning only two of those.