NFL Today on CBS analyst Bart Scott was pretty outspoken when responding to reports of Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel leaving town and going to Las Vegas the night before the team’s season finale, while being held under the league’s concussion protocol.
“He’s a guy that just doesn’t get it,” Scott told The Jim Rome Show. “I found it alarming that every week the guy he called and checked on was Josh Gordon. It just kind of says the guy doesn’t get it. He’s got to hit rock bottom. If I’m the Cleveland organization, I’m getting away from Johnny Manziel as fast as possible, and if I don’t know, if I’m the Dallas Cowboys, I hear reports that he says that he wants to be in Dallas, that area, I don’t know you go that route because this kid feels entitled. He doesn’t understand it’s a privilege. I think RG3 understands that starting quarterback opportunities in this league is far and few between. It’s only 32.”
Scott says once you know Manziel’s upbringing, you understand his thought process.
“He’s grown up privileged. He’s probably never heard no,” Scott said. “He’s not playing football because he has to feed his family. This is a hobby to him. I don’t know if this is something that he loves. This is something that he does because it’s cool, it makes him a part of the conversation, it makes him famous. There’s a lot of guys out there that’s fighting because it’s the only option they had to change the DNA of their family, their family situation to put food on the table, to take care of ma, to take care of your extended family. For him, he’s just having fun. If the NFL says you can’t play tomorrow, he’s going to be ok. He’s still going to live the same life as most NFL players because of his family situation.”
While Manziel’s teammates maybe enjoyed the limelight Manziel was in and had his back, Scott says that’s changed now.
“What most guys respect is their respect of their peers,” Scott said. “They may think it’s cool, it’s fun, he lives free, but guys in this league, most guys play for respect, respect that says this is my craft, this is my profession, I’m a professional football player. He acts like this is just a hobby, guys don’t respect that. Guys are all about trying to win titles. If I’m a Cleveland Brown, I’m tired of being an embarrassment, I’m tired of being the butt of jokes, I’m tired of being looked at as not a professional football team, a franchise in disarray, and this guy is adding to that. I don’t want that around.”
The analyst also responded to the news of Tom Coughlin and the New York Giants parting ways after 12 seasons together, and while Scott is not surprised by the move, he doesn’t think it was all Coughlin’s fault for the franchise’s recent struggles.
“You have to, at some point, move on, and you can only punch that ‘I won two Super Bowls’ card so long,” Scott said. “Not being to the playoffs in four consecutive years, it looks like the team is not headed in the right direction, but I don’t know if it’s all Tom Coughlin’s fault. I lay all that mess right on the step of Jerry Reese’s porch and say that he has done a bad job of giving Tom Coughlin the pieces that he needs to be successful. I don’t think Tom Coughlin has forgotten how to coach. I don’t think Tom Coughlin has lost the fire and desire to coach, and I think he hasn’t lost the locker room, but he doesn’t have the pieces.”
