Mike Pettine not concerned with Johnny Manziel’s off-the-field activities
Johnny Manziel has been criticized for his off-the-field lifestyle and penchant for the spotlight, but don’t include Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine among the critics who take umbrage with the 2012 Heisman winner and No. 22 overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft.
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“I’m not concerned. I would become concerned if there was something criminal and I’d be concerned if it affected his job. I think there’s a lot of our guys, when they leave here and if they were followed around, I think you’d get some similar pictures,” Pettine said via Tony Grossi of ESPNCleveland.com, adding, “I don’t know about an inflatable swan … but I think you’d still get some pictures.”
Manziel was lampooned for spending part of the Memorial Day holiday weekend in Las Vegas where he attended an UFC event and mingled with other NFL players, including Rob Gronkowski and last weekend was seen drinking from a bottle of champagne while laying on an inflatable swan.
His larger-than-life persona and celebrity status may have scared some teams away from drafting the former Texas A&M quarterback in this year’s draft, but is Manziel doing anything that a number of other NFL and professional athletes are doing? Of course.
The criticism will continue to head in his direction with every tweet or photo that pops up on Instagram with Manziel engaged in some revelry, but the only thing that really matters with Manziel is his on-field performance which we will get a glimpse of during the Browns three-day minicamp this week before training camp gets underway next month.