Johnny Manziel has been in a bad place for a long time now, and yet it only seems to be getting worse. The Browns spent two seasons trying to get his life on track, but he refused to cooperate. When they released him, many, including the Browns, hoped it would be the shock he needed to get his priorities in order.
Apparently not.
Manziel remained out the public spotlight for a few months, but has recently jumped back into the glow with a drunken gaze and a lost smile. In the last week alone, he’s been caught by TMZ on multiple occasions drunkenly talking about his party life, he’s been involved in a hit-and-run accident and he’s caused nearly $20,000 in damage to a house he was renting in Los Angeles.
And through all of it, he’s been entirely unapologetic. And why would he? To Johnny, he’s just having a good time. And that’s how you know just how serious of a condition he’s in. So serious, in fact, that his newly acquired agent, Drew Rosenhaus, has given Johnny an ultimatum: go to rehab or lose the one lifeline to the NFL you have.
“I have terminated the standard representation with Johnny Manziel in the hopes of helping him get the treatment I believe he needs,” Rosenhaus said, via Adam Schefter. “I have informed him that if he takes the immediate steps I have outlined for him that I will rescind the termination and continue to represent him. Otherwise the termination will become permanent. There is a five-day window for me to rescind the termination. I’m hoping he takes the necessary steps to get his life back on track.”
Still, despite all of the setbacks, Johnny Manziel has one guy left in his corner, no matter how bad it gets: Von Miller.
Miller has been Manziel’s most steadfast and vocal supporter these last few months, and he’s not changing his tune now. While a a press conference at his former school, DeSota High School, Miller had this to say about Manziel, via Avi Zaleon of the Dallas Morning News.
“I want to help get Johnny back to Johnny Manziel. Johnny Football, that’s beside the fact. I want to get Johnny back to being Johnny Manziel. I remember what it was for me when I was in a similar situation, it was the people around me that helped motivate me to get to the same Von that I was.
He’s had people walk out on him. He’s had people who have given up on him. I’m not going to be that guy. I’ve never been that guy. Johnny’s my brother. I didn’t play with him at Texas A&M, but he’s my brother and we have a unique relationship. I’m here to help him no matter what it is. I’m tied to him, good or bad. You can’t ever count anybody out and I think everybody who has counted him out is just wrong.”
At first glance, Miller’s support may seem worrisome. Johnny Manziel is much closer to a black hole than an NFL quarterback right now, and the last thing Broncos fans want to see is their All-World pass rusher getting involved in Manziel’s dangerous lifestyle. But that’s not what Miller is doing here, and we’d be wrong to treat it that way.
Von Miller is the last helping hand Manziel has, and that’s exactly what he he is: a helping hand, not a supporting hand. Miller is not supporting Manziel’s lifestyle; he’s simply the only one that believes Manziel has the ability to change it.
As our own James Merilatt wrote a while back, we should not be criticizing Miller for his support of Manziel; we should be commending it. If anything, it shows that Miller truly has matured, so much so that he can now be the role model troubled players look up to.
Will Manziel get his life together? That’s a question only he can answer. Until then, though, he’s about as likely to be playing NFL quarterback as I am.
