The man who drafted Johnny Manziel has spent a lot of time lately explaining exactly why the Browns drafted Manziel and what went wrong, and that Explanation Tour continued on Monday.
Ray Farmer was the Browns general manager in 2014 when the team made Johnny Football the 22nd overall pick in the draft. Back in April, Farmer explained that Manziel ended up in Cleveland due to a collective failure of the front office.
Basically, Farmer insinuated that the Manziel pick wasn't unanimously agreed upon by everyone in the Browns' war room.
Whether everyone agreed on the pick or not quickly became irrelevant though because Manziel wound up in Cleveland, and every front office doesn't agree on every pick in every draft.
The bigger question with Manziel is: Why did he fail with the Browns?
Well, Farmer thinks he knows the answer to that question, too. "The club has to be prepared to handle the player regardless of their celebrity, regardless of their position, regardless of what they're required to do," Farmer said during a segment on ESPN's NFL Insiders on Monday.
According to Farmer, Manziel did his "share" of what was asked. The problem in Cleveland was that the Browns weren't prepared to handle Manziel's celebrity.
"In Johnny's case, I truly feel like a lot of people piled on the young man," Farmer said. "He's done his share of helping everybody get on top of that bandwagon, but the reality is the responsibility is born by both the club, and the player."
As Farmer noted, he believes Manziel came through and the Browns didn't.
"When the club doesn't follow up on its end, it makes it that much easier for players to get off track," Farmer said.
Farmer saying that definitely doesn't make the Browns look good because, as general manager, he had a front row seat to the JFF show in Cleveland, which didn't last long. Manziel was cut on March 11, less than two years after he was drafted. During the ESPN show, Farmer was asked specifically what made Manziel such a problem for the Browns.
"It's celebrity," Farmer said. "This player had unique celebrity that I don't think the league has seen in a lot of different players. A lot of guys come to the NFL and make their celebrity there, this young man came in with a Rolling Stone magazine cover type of persona. That brings a whole new element of how you try to handle the person that comes with it."
As for Manziel's current status as an unemployed quarterback, Farmer echoed a lot of other people and said that he hopes Manziel gets help.
"I'm concerned for the person more than I am the player," Farmer said. "Whether Johnny plays another down in the National Football League is not my concern. I do hope the young man finds the help that he needs to put himself back together."
