Ryan Leaf on Manziel: 'I don't know if he knows who he really is'
Ryan Leaf, who was selected one pick after future Hall-of-Famer Peyton Manning, knows something about off-field issues destroying an NFL career, so Johnny Manziel might be wise to heed his words.
By
Ryan Wilson
•
3 min read
Johnny Manziel's NFL career is on hold indefinitely, but the Browns' 2014 first-round pick faces issues much bigger than football. He spent 10 weeks in a treatment facility following his rookie campaign, but struggled with off-field issues for much of last season. Hours before the Browns' regular-season finale, Manziel was reportedly spotted in Las Vegas wearing a disguise, and by March he was out of a job.
Then last week, Manziel was indicted by a Dallas grand jury on Tuesday in the domestic assault case involving former girlfriend Colleen Crowley.
On Monday, Ryan Leaf, who was drafted second overall in 1998 -- one pick after Peyton Manning -- and subsequently struggled with substance abuse and did jail time, spoke with CBS Sports Radio's Marc Malusis and Maggie Gray about Manziel.
"I've reached out to Johnny and that's all we can do," Leaf said. "We can be supportive and unconditionally love somebody for who they truly are. I mean, his identity is tied up in this Johnny Football caricature. I don't know if he really knows who he is, or if he gets to express who he really is to people.
"I went through that for a long time. It's like looking in a mirror sometimes," Leaf continued. ... [B]ecause I didn't listen to anybody before because I thought I could deal with everything on my own because if you were vulnerable or asked for help that was weak. You didn't ever see the star quarterback stand in front of the team and look at them and say, 'Guys I need some help.' ...
"I always had to be the guy people came to for help. Teammates wanted to know what a play was or they were struggling with something -- I had to be the strong one. But asking for help is one of the strongest things I've ever done, and it's a powerful way to change your life. So might Manziel learn a lesson from Leaf's struggles before it's too late?
"Let me be clear, it had to be my [rock] bottom. So it's going to have to be [Manziel's] bottom, or anybody who's struggling with this disease. It has to be their bottom, they have to surrender and accept the help. In my case, I just had to be humbled enough that I woke up on a prison floor. A lot of times in my private moments when I was asking for help to God or whoever, I just didn't realize that He sent the Cascade County Sheriff's in Montana as my help. That's the way it worked."
Manziel's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, dropped him last month after Manziel refused to get help. And earlier this year Manziel's father said he didn't expect his son to see his next birthday unless he changed his ways.
For now, Manziel has until May 5 to turn himself into authorities following his grand jury indictment. Whether Manziel's case ends up in front of a jury could be up to him. Dallas-area attorney David Finn, a former family violence judge, says the district attorney's office could be willing to avoid taking the case to trial.
"My guess, and it's an informed guess, is they'll offer a conditional dismissal," Finn told NewsFixCW33.com last week. "'Hey Mr. Manziel you go to alcohol rehab, we do random drug testing and you do the batterer's intervention counseling or anger management or both, we'll agree to dismiss this.'"
If Manziel decides against rehab and drug testing, Finn expects the district attorney's office to push for a trial.
"If you don't want to help yourself, we're not going to help you and we'll see what six jurors in Dallas County think about the case," Finn said.
