Johnny Manziel, a former NFL quarterback, expressed regret over his time in Cleveland and encounters with LeBron James and Cavaliers icon and marketing manager Maverick Carter.
On Shannon Sharpe’s “Club Shay Shay” broadcast, ex-quarterback Johnny Manziel discussed his dismal stay with the Browns, which did not go as planned, according to the New York Post.
Manziel admitted to mistreating both Carter (James’ lifelong pal) and James after hiring Carter to manage his financial affairs. Despite his limited NFL career and poor completion rate, Manziel acknowledges that Carter and James still retain hatred towards him after their business connection ended in January 2016.
“What I’ve realized is that they don’t lose, which is why they’re probably still angry with me now. “They don’t bet on anything that isn’t guaranteed,” Manziel stated. “And what I did and the way I carried myself and the way that I was in my time during Cleveland was pure and blatant disrespect to them giving me everything that I could have ever needed to be successful.”
“So something that still to this day, I think now that we’re talking about it, I haven’t completely truly got over yet how I let them down.”
In a Netflix documentary, Manziel revealed his struggles with substance addiction and mental health while with the Cleveland Browns. He confessed that he considered suicide after being released from the team in 2016.
He informed Sharpe that his sadness had driven him to separate himself from James, despite James’ efforts to spend time together when they were both available.
Manziel revealed that James used to watch games and play poker with pals, but his mental condition was deteriorating, making it difficult for him to leave bed.
“I was so depressed for the first time in my life that even my biggest role model and inspiration in my life couldn’t get me out of bed to come and hang out with them,” he told me. I went to the Cavs games, and I was in and out. I didn’t grasp and hang on to him as well as I could have. And he attempts to take me under his wing, correct? And I’m just nudging it away because of my mental health, being really sad, and where I was in my life. Is that an excuse?
“Absolutely not.” Because, at the end of the day, my respect for them and their willingness to give me anything should take precedence over everything else.”
The ex-NFL quarterback lamented not caring enough to do the right thing, admitting that it weighs hard on him.