The Cleveland Browns’ quarterback Johnny Manziel has sought help to change his off-field lifestyle.
Following a rough rookie season in the NFL, Manziel has entered a treatment program for unspecified reasons, one of his advisers said in a statement released by the team on Monday.
“Johnny knows there are areas he needs to improve on to help him be a better family member, friend and teammate, so he decided to take this step in his life during the off-season,” Manziel’s adviser Brad Beckworth said.
Beckworth said the former Heisman Trophy winner entered the unnamed facility last week, adding that Manziel’s family is asking for privacy until he rejoins the team.
Beckworth’s statement did not indicate reasons for Manziel needing treatment. However, the 22-year-old’s penchant for partying followed him from college into the pros and Manziel’s nightlife has been well-chronicled by both social and mainstream media.
The location of the facility where Manziel is staying is not immediately known.
The Browns’ general manager Ray Farmer said in a statement that the team fully supports Manziel and respects his initiative in entering treatment. The team will respect Manziel’s privacy during treatment, he said.
“Our players’ health and well-being will always be of the utmost importance to the Cleveland Browns,” Farmer said. “We continually strive to create a supportive environment and provide the appropriate resources, with our foremost focus being on the individual and not just the football player.”
Citing privacy laws, a team spokesman declined to provide any further information about Manziel’s situation.
The Browns’ wide receiver Andrew Hawkins offered his support to Manziel on Twitter.
“Much love and support to my brother Johnny,” Hawkins wrote. “Proud of him, big step. Football is secondary. God Bless!”
Manziel, who won the Heisman as a freshman at Texas A&M University, where his playmaking skills earned him his “Johnny Football” nickname, has faced questions for several years about his active nightlife.
After he was drafted in May last year by the Browns in the first round, Manziel was repeatedly photographed drinking alcohol during weekend trips to Las Vegas. A photograph of Manziel floating on an inflatable swan raft swigging a bottle of champagne went viral.
Manziel spent the majority of last season as starter Brian Hoyer’s backup before coach Mike Pettine switched their roles with the team still in the playoff hunt.
Manziel made his first start on Dec. 14 last year against Cincinnati, but failed miserably. He appeared unprepared and overmatched as the Bengals defense harassed him into two interceptions and the Browns were throttled 30-0. Manziel completed 10 of 18 passes for 80 yards, was sacked twice and looked nothing like a player capable of ending Cleveland’s long search to find a franchise quarterback.
The next week at Carolina, Manziel injured his hamstring on a running play before half-time and was replaced by Hoyer.
Manziel was then fined by the Browns for missing a medical treatment before the season finale at Baltimore. Manziel promised he would change following the season, apologizing to Cleveland’s fans and his teammates for being a distraction.
However, hours after apologizing, he was photographed in Miami Beach and over the next few days there were photos of him on Instagram in a Houston nightclub and in Aspen, Colorado.
The Browns have made it clear to Manziel that they expect more from him if he wants to be their leader.
“Johnny has to show on and off the field he can be a professional,” owner Jimmy Haslam said on Jan. 22. “He knows that. Everybody in the organization has told him that. He knows what we expect of him on and off the field and it’s up to him to prove he can do that.”
Manziel’s uncertain future could influence the Browns’ plans at quarterback. Hoyer is scheduled to become a free agent, but the Cleveland native might be willing to re-sign with Cleveland, especially if Manziel is not in the picture.
The Browns also have two first-round picks (Nos. 12 and 19) in this year’s draft and might be willing to use them to land a quarterback.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier