Prove it: Johnny Manziel's moment arrives
BEREA, Ohio - After perhaps the most well-documented offseason in the history of NFL rookies, Johnny Manziel should be trading nightclubs for film rooms and courtside NBA seats for the second-string offense.
He'll keep company with sweaty offensive linemen instead of rappers and bikini models, and the only pool he could float in while riding an inflatable swan is the cold tub in the Cleveland Browns training room.
Welcome to training camp, Johnny Football.
The mania that surrounded Manziel's arrival in Cleveland this spring should be just a preview of what to expect when Browns camp begins in earnest today, when the full roster reports to camp. And when the team gathers for its first practice Saturday, the quarterback competition will truly begin.
Manziel returns to Ohio second on the depth chart behind Brian Hoyer, who has been cleared for full participation after sitting out parts of spring practices while in the final stages of rehab from a major knee injury.
How long will Manziel remain the backup?
First-year coach Mike Pettine told news reporters this week that both quarterbacks would take snaps with the first-team offense and both could wind up starting a preseason game. Pettine hopes to name a starter before the third preseason game Aug. 23 - also the first time Manziel will play in front of the home crowd at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Whether he's the starter or Hoyer's backup, it will be a major moment, one of just a number of times Manziel has wound up in the spotlight since he played his final game at Texas A&M.
From his unorthodox pro day in College Station to his first days with the Browns to his wild off-field escapades, so thoroughly documented on social media, it seems everyone has been watching and everyone has had an opinion. Here are some of the most memorable moments of Manziel's wild year:
Pro Day
Manziel, who announced in January that he would skip his final two years of college eligibility to enter the draft, moved to San Diego to train with quarterbacks guru George Whitfield Jr.
But the pinnacle of his predraft preparation came in March at Texas A&M, where Manziel put on a show at his pro day the way only he could.
There was music blaring through the speakers (Drake; an unedited version, of course), and former president George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, watched from the sideline in a golf cart. Manziel wore a helmet and had shoulder pads under his No.2 jersey - part of a new line of Manziel-specific gear marketed by Nike.
'There's a little bit of Hollywood to it,' Oakland Raiders coach Dennis Allen told USA TODAY Sports at the time.
The Browns were one of two NFL teams that didn't send anyone to watch the pro day.
The draft-night slide
If only there had been one camera fixed solely on Manziel at Radio City Music Hall during the first night of the draft, when Manziel not only wasn't the first quarterback drafted (that was Blake Bortles, to the Jacksonville Jaguars at No. 3), but he also fell all the way to No. 22, where the Browns took him with the second of their two first-round picks (cornerback Justin Gilbert was first, at No. 8).
As he waited, Manziel exchanged text messages with Browns quarterbacks coach Dowell Loggains, telling him to 'hurry up and draft me.'
Cleveland hysteria
Within days of Manziel's arrival in Cleveland, and despite the intentions of the coaching staff to keep the rookie under wraps, he was the biggest story in town.
The team store was backed up with orders for No. 2 jerseys (while one small rack of Hoyer's No. 6 hung in the back), and hardly another player was mentioned on sports talk radio.
In May, Manziel laughed off the idea that he might be able to lure his buddy, LeBron James, back home to play for the NBA's Cavaliers. Two months later, Manziel and James - who share marketing representatives - have possibly made Cleveland the center of the sports world.
The partying
Manziel's Instagram feed was a must-follow this summer, as were the paparazzi sites that documented all sorts of shenanigans. There was a pool party in Las Vegas with Rob Gronkowski, a night out clubbing in Hollywood with Drake (during the NFL Players Association's Rookie Premiere) and a party at Justin Bieber's place in Los Angeles - documented with a selfie, of course.
Manziel watched a Red Sox game in Boston with a gaggle of girls, was spotted watching the World Cup at a bar in Houston and was photographed swigging champagne while floating on a blowup swan at a club in Austin, and he apologized for none of it.
'I'm going to live life to the fullest,' Manziel said.
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