Johnny Manziel lied about his party video during the bye week and now it has been very costly.
The 22-year-old lost his starting spot after lying to the team’s coaching staff, with regards to a video of him partying in Austin, Texas.
Manziel, the controversial Cleveland Browns quarterback, was relegated to the third team in their Monday night game against the Baltimore Ravens after a video of Manziel allegedly partying during the team’s bye week made the rounds on social media.
According to reports, Manziel did lie to Coach Pettine about the video. He also encouraged his friends to lie about the video.
Manziel could have kept his starters spot had he told the truth, said some sources.
The said video showed Manziel holding what seems to be a champagne bottle while singing in a club. The next day, the video has gone viral, and management had a talk with Manziel. They arrived with a decision to demote Manziel, and replace him with Josh McCown.
“When you have a great opportunity in front of you, it is important that you demonstrate that you can handle the responsibility that comes with it,” said Pettine on Wednesday.
“I can’t emphasize enough the importance of the trust and the accountability piece. This is where we had an obvious shortcoming.”
After throwing 372 yards in a 30-9 loss to the Steelers last November 15, Manziel was named as a starter for Browns. It was then discussed to him about appropriately representing the organization with a good reputation.
In an interview before the bye week, he said, he was not going to do anything that’s going to be a distraction to his team or be an embarrassment to the organization.
But the said viral video showed otherwise.
Just last month, Manziel was also involved in a driving incident that made headlines. Reports had it that Manziel got physical with his girlfriend in the car, resulting to dangerous driving on the interstate highway. Police reported that they smelled alcohol on Manziel’s breath but they did not give him a field sobriety test as he showed no signs of inebriation.
The NFL did not give Manziel sanctions due to that infraction. Earlier before the season, Manziel already spent 10 weeks in a treatment for undisclosed reasons.
The post Johnny Manziel demoted to third stringer after lying about the party video appeared first on Sports Rageous - Best sports news on the web.