Johnny Manziel has been trying to stay on his best off-field behavior in the hope of maybe actually getting on the field to play soon, but trouble seems to follow him. The rookie quarterback of the Cleveland Browns was apparently involved in a massive brawl downtown on the evening of Friday, November 21.
ESPN stated that Manziel is not listed as a suspect in the fight.
A report from the Cleveland Police Department details that Manziel was approached by a fan named Chris Gonos at the Metropolitan at the 9 hotel around 2:30 a.m. on Friday night. Gonos came up to Manziel and his “entourage,” and now claims that he was assaulted by the QB.
A Manziel associate, listed as Dana Kirk, told police “the victim attempted to assault his client and he defended him,” according to the police report. Gonos, the alleged victim, told police he was “assaulted by Johnny Football and his entourage” after he tried to approach Manziel as a fan by saying, “I’m the biggest Browns fan ever, I love you, I want to give you a hug,” according to the report.
According to Bleacher Report , this was when Gonos claims one of Manziel’s people punched him in the face, and it caused a huge brawl to ensue. Gonos also claims that the quarterback punched his brother, who tackled Manziel.
The Browns have been hoping that Manziel would clean up his ways after offseason and preseason issues. So far, he’s been doing well, and the Browns are aware of the latest incident. General manager Ray Farmer released a statement regarding the Manziel fiight.
“We are aware of the incident and are in the process of gathering additional information in order to gain a complete understanding of what occurred. Nonetheless, the time of the incident is concerning to us. We continually stress to all of our players the importance of sound decision making in an effort to avoid putting themselves in these types of situations. We have addressed this appropriately with the player and will have no further comment at this time.”
While there has been no other official word from the Browns on what could happen to Johnny Manziel , it does appear as if this isn’t yet over.
The statement from Farmer makes it seem as if the Browns could put forth some kind of disciplinary action such as a fine or a suspension. Yes, Manziel has every right in the world to go out and do as he pleases in compliance with team rules, but this seems to happen to him a lot.
No, Manziel didn’t start anything. Yes, he has a right to be out. But do you think this would happened to Andrew Luck?
— mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) November 24, 2014
Cleveland’s starting quarterback, Brian Hoyer, won the job in the preseason and has continued to play well enough to keep the hyped rookie on the bench. The Browns are also at 7-4 and tied for second in the AFC North.
Johnny Manziel has hardly seen the field this season, and situations like this won’t help him get there any quicker.
[Image via Fox Sports]