Browns coach Mike Pettine acknowledged on Wednesday that the team did not appreciate the extent of Johnny Manziel’s off-field problems when they signed him – but said “the repercussions would be harsh” if Manziel errs again.
Manziel was brought back as the Browns’ starting quarterback after an up-and-down season where the 22-year-old has battled injury and personal problems. Manziel was demoted after a video emerged of him partying in an Austin nightclub on the Browns’ bye week – but Pettine reversed his decision after the Browns were trounced 37-3 by the Bengals on Sunday.
“[It’s] hard to put things in a vacuum,” Pettine said. “I don’t want to sit here and say, ‘Look at the degree of discipline.’ It’s hard to say we have a zero-tolerance policy. If something were to occur, I imagine the repercussions would be harsh.”
Pettine said the Browns did not anticipate when they drafted Manziel’s how deep-rooted his problems would be.
“You see the reputation, what was out there,” Pettine said of pre-draft analysis. “I don’t think we anticipated that his problems, his issues, how deep-rooted they were, the extent of it.”
Manziel will start Sunday’s game against the 49ers. The decision to bring Manziel back to replace Austin Davis marks the sixth quarterback change for the Browns since the season opener, and the third time Manziel has been given the job. He won the second game of the season over Tennessee but lost badly to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh in November. He struggled against the Bengals but threw for 372 yards against the Steelers.
Manziel was given the job for the rest of the season after facing the Steelers, but Pettine demoted him to the third team because the coach said he had violated the team’s trust by lying about the timing of a video that showed him partying in Austin during the bye week.
