Yesterday, it sure looked like we were going to have yet another chapter in the epic legend of Cleveland Browns failures. A report was released by Michael Silver of NFL Network claiming the team watched as quarterback Johnny Manziel arrived to a December 30 practice drunk and, in a panic move, lied and placed him in concussion protocol.
If the claim was true, it would result in some serious punishment thrown Cleveland’s way, and a few fans were worried this might end up getting the team’s No. 2 draft pick taken away. However, the Browns were quick to deny any wrongdoing.
Now, normally when Cleveland finds itself in hot water, a denial is tough to believe. We ran into this issue last year when the Browns were being investigated for then-GM Ray Farmer‘s notorious mid-game texts to the sideline. Knowing the history of the team, an accusation of pretending a player is concussed in order to hide the fact he was drunk sure sounds like a typical Browns move.
However, the more that surfaced from this story, the more it started to look like Cleveland may dodge a bullet here. Though the team has a history of making bonehead decisions, this latest report doesn’t seem to be an example of one.
For one, due to league policy, no team can move a player into concussion protocol on its own accord. Players are examined by independent medical staff, who eventually make the final diagnosis. Simply put, Cleveland is not responsible for diagnosing concussions whatsoever.
Additionally, even if Manziel showed up drunk or hungover or whatever the story actually was, if he’s claiming to have symptoms of a concussion, the Browns have to treat it accordingly and follow up with the league.
Sure, he could’ve very well been lying, and he might have been almost comically drunk that day. At the same time, if a player says he’s dealing with concussion-like symptoms, the Browns simply could not afford to just ignore it. They have to have him checked out.
Concussions are an extremely hot button topic with the league. As a result, no matter how disappointed the team may have been with Manziel, there’s simply no way Cleveland could’ve heard him describe his symptoms and just say, “Screw that, he’s just hungover.” Though he may have deserved such a response, the NFL would come down hard on the Browns if they ignored any sign of a concussion.
To top it all off, Silver has since backed off the “lying” claim (which he doubled down on during his first report). Obviously, emphatically stating the team lied was one of the main reasons this story picked up in the first place. The fact that he’s since gone back and said the Browns may not have actually hid this says a lot.
For all intents and purposes, the league may still dig into this story a bit. If there’s even the slightest hint of a team trying to hide an embarrassment from a player under a phony medical diagnosis, it needs to be looked into.
That said, all signs point to this being something you can’t blame Cleveland for. Again, the team’s history certainly merits people reacting the way they did yesterday. However, as of now it seems like the Browns can’t be faulted here.
