Don’t write off party boy Manziel

By Thomas Donley |@TDonleyDE, Daily Egyptian

You’re probably familiar with him.

He’s the quarterback with a party side and a propensity for extending plays with his legs. He was named backup after being the third quarterback taken in the NFL Draft. You won’t find him in the team picture though; he was late because he was hung over.

Sound like someone you’ve heard of?

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Brett Favre caused plenty of headaches for the 1991 Atlanta Falcons in his rookie year. His partying likely contributed to throwing more balls into the upper deck of the Georgia Dome than he did to teammates. It was certainly the reason Atlanta banished him to Green Bay, Wis., the NFL’s version of Siberia after his rookie year.

Now, 23 years later, the Cleveland Browns have a similar personality holding a clipboard. Johnny Manziel spent his first summer as a professional football player partying all over the country, while preparing to play the most demanding position in all of sports. Troubling as that may be, he has started his career off at roughly the same trajectory as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.

Manziel will most likely not be traded after only four pass attempts like Favre was. But it could only take one injury for him to lock down his team’s starting job for good, just as Favre did in 1992 when he took over for Don Majkowski. Brian Hoyer is more of a stopgap at quarterback for the Browns than a franchise quarterback. Once Manziel cracks the starting lineup, it will be difficult for Hoyer to win it back.

The key to Favre’s success was his settling down. That meant an exile to the NFL’s smallest city, a place where it is much harder to get in trouble than in places like Atlanta or New York.

Cleveland seems like a place where it would be easier to keep one’s nose clean. As the joke goes, one could “spend a week there one day.” In other words, it’s boring. But as long as Manziel has money for airfare, he can wind up in Las Vegas and pass out on an inflatable swan.

Maturing past the party boy stage of life will be a process for Manziel. It certainly was for Favre. Even after his trade to Green Bay, Favre was in rehab before the 1996 season because of an addiction to prescription medication. That season, he ended up leading the Packers to their first Super Bowl victory in 29 years and won his second MVP award that season.

Favre and Manziel share similar characteristics on the field. Manziel is known for playing the position with reckless abandon, making him as exciting to watch as the guy who threw more passes, touchdowns, interceptions and probably blocks than any quarterback in NFL history

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Both are extremely tough. Manziel takes huge hits from, and sometimes runs over, larger opposing linebackers. Favre played through separated shoulders, concussions and the loss of his father.

Manziel has his whole career ahead of him. He’s only thrown one professional pass. Despite all the distractions he brings, to this point he has started his career in similar fashion to a guy who is certainly on his way to Canton, Ohio. If Brett Favre is any indication, Johnny Football may end his career down the road from Cleveland in Canton.

Thomas can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @tdonleyDE

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