On Tuesday afternoon, days after pictures and video of the Cleveland Browns quarterback partying over the weekend emerged, the team announced that Johnny Manziel has been demoted from starter to the third string for the foreseeable future.
This announcement comes less than a month after Manziel, who is in his second year in the NFL, was promoted to starting quarterback amid an NFL investigation of a domestic violence incident with his girlfriend Colleen Crowley.
Fans on Twitter were quick to note how different the Browns’ reaction was to the two incidents:
Can't help but find it odd Browns now draw the line at going to a club, vs. the incident w/his girlfriend and police just a few weeks ago
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) November 24, 2015
Just remember, Johnny Manziel has been suspended for allegedly partying, not for allegedly smashing his girlfriend's head into a car window.
— GodLovesCLESports (@MikeStein1000) November 24, 2015
Manziel may get benched for partying. Yet, his girlfriend is recorded telling police he hit her and there's no punishment. #DoubleStandard
— Alicia Jessop (@RulingSports) November 24, 2015
Manziel has been under the microscope for his off-the-field behavior since his time as a star at Texas A&M.; After a rocky rookie campaign with the Browns, Manziel spent 10 weeks in a rehab facility for alcohol abuse during the offseason — so it was alarming when a video of him partying at an Austin nightclub with a bottle of champagne in hand during Cleveland’s bye week was released on Monday.
But it wasn’t actually a new revelation that Manziel was drinking again. When he was investigated in October for allegedly hitting his girlfriend and pushing her head against a car window in a domestic dispute, he admitted to having had a couple of drinks.
After the domestic violence allegations came to light last month, Browns coach Mike Pettine told reporters that he found the allegations against Manziel “disturbing” and “upsetting.” But the Browns deferred to the NFL when it came to discipline and even promoted Manziel from back-up to starter while the investigation was ongoing.
Pettine was very defensive when questioned about whether the team was taking the allegations seriously. “I just don’t like where we’re headed with, ‘just because there was no instant public punishment that all of a sudden there’s no accountability in our locker room,’’’ he told reporters at the time. “There’s accountability. Some accountability is public, some of it’s private.’’
Less than 48 hours after the pictures of Manziel partying came out, however, Pettine took a firmer line. The coach said in a statement that Josh McCown would be the new starter and that Manziel would be demoted to the backup’s backup:
Statement from Mike Pettine on Manziel benching pic.twitter.com/ORs1sER4Lj
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) November 24, 2015
On Tuesday, Manziel responded to the reports that he was partying by saying that “videos can be old.” He has always maintained his innocence in the alleged domestic dispute with his girlfriend.
The NFL, which has been under intense scrutiny for its domestic violence disciplines since Ray Rice last year, did conduct what they called a “thorough” investigation into the domestic violence allegations against Manziel — but announced last week that there was an “insufficient basis on which to take disciplinary action.”
However, the police report at the time of the dispute did include pictures of a fresh abrasion on Crowley’s arm. She could be heard on a dashcam video saying “I’m in fear for my life.” According to the report, she also told officers that Manziel “pushed her head against the glass of the car” and “hit her a couple of times in the car.” But Crowley didn’t want to press charges and shared a message of support for Manziel on social media, which is actually fairly common among victims of domestic violence.
After the NFL announced the end of the investigation, Manziel stated his relief and announced that he was going to behave during the off weekend.
“I let (coach Mike Pettine) know that I’m not going to do anything that’s going to be a distraction to this team or be an embarrassment to the organization,’’ he said. “I’m going to get a chance to go and relax like everybody else in this locker room is. I don’t think they’re going to have to worry about me this week.”