By all accounts, Johnny Manziel's debut in the NFL was a train wreck.
According to ESPN, Cleveland Browns personnel don't blame Manziel.
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The Worldwide Leader in Sports wrote an in-depth article, chronicling the rookie NFL season of the 2012 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback from Texas A&M.
It wasn't pretty. And it wasn't all Manziel's fault.
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ESPN interviewed 20 sources within the Browns organization on the record and on the condition of anonymity. The article can be summed up in the comment of one of Manziel's teammates.
"As one player put it, Manziel throughout the entire 2014 season was a '100 percent joke,'" according to ESPN.
But the joke was on the Browns, another source said, who should not have been surprised with the season they got from their first-round draft choice.
"During the draft process, not one person interviewed by the team said he was going to grow up," said one source directly involved in the drafting of Manziel. "You can't blame Johnny. This is who he is. The team knew that."
Manziel himself said after the season, "I need to start doing every single thing and everything the right way and if I don't I'm going to be exposed," ESPN reported.
Saying the right things, however, wasn't Manziel's problem. Doing the right things were. The article added that he was late for team functions often enough that it wasn't a surprise when he was late.
Still, some Browns think he still can turn around his ways.
"People make mistakes," cornerback Joe Haden said. "I'm all about giving second chances."
But another member of the Browns staff said that the team is to blame for not holding him accountable.
"He's a kid that I think wants to do well but needs to be shown how, and he didn't always get that help, in my opinion," one Browns staffer said.
A day earlier, team owner Jimmy Haslam told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that the team may seek another first-round quarterback in the 2015 NFL Draft.
The problem with that strategy, however, is that if the Browns aren't strict enough enforcing their rules or demanding a certain professionalism, they're in danger of wasting another first-round draft pick unless that player is a self-motivator who can rise above the team's apparent lack of leadership.
How much responsibility do the Cleveland Browns bear in Johnny Manziel's awful 2014 season, compared the responsibility on Manziel? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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