Beware of Shiny Objects

Posted: July 25th, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 60 Comments »

There was a lot of speculation in the spring about whether the Eagles would draft Johnny Manziel. Chip Kelly had recruited him to Oregon so it was widely assumed that Kelly would want him in Philly. No matter what happens or what is said, the notion that Chip covets a mobile QB just won’t go away.

I didn’t expect the Eagles to go after Manziel, but I’ve been wrong before. I was relieved when the Eagles dealt the pick away and Cleveland then drafted Manziel back in May.

Manziel is one of the best college QBs that I have ever seen play. He did things that look like crazy scenes from a bad movie about a college football superstar. You know how in every football movie the director feels the need for every play to be some over-the-top moment? That was Manziel for 2 years at Texas A&M. He made the impossible seem almost common. I’m glad I got to see him play and I’ll never forget Johnny Football.

But I wanted no part of him for the Eagles.

The first thing that got my radar up was the Manning Passing Academy incident, where Manziel was sent home early. Did he simply oversleep or was he hungover? I don’t know what happened, but I know things didn’t go the way they should have. Then there wasΒ the brilliant piece by Wright Thompson from last summer. Manziel came off as a spoiled brat with a huge sense of entitlement.

The last year featured a lot of moments that were awkward, if not awful. Manziel doing his little money thing with his fingers just feels so wrong. He did it in games and even at the draft. Hanging with Justin Bieber, who doesn’t exactly have a sterling reputation, probably isn’t ideal. The photo of the rolled up $20 bill from the bathroom, which loosely insinuated cocaine use, was another head-scratcher.

I have no idea what kind of NFL player Manziel will be, but I sure don’t like his personality and I sure don’t trust him. And that’s the biggest thing. No matter how well Manziel plays, you’re always going to be scared to pull up Twitter or PFT or turn on ESPN because Bad Johnny is always lurking.

Apparently the Browns have already seen this side of him (and it’s not even August!).

The Browns have been ‘alarmed’ by some of Johnny Manziel’s antics since the draft — especially a photo of him rolling up a $20 bill in the bathroom of a bar — and some in the organization feel he’s lost ground in the quarterback competition heading into camp, sources have told Northeast Ohio Media Group.

And…

Team officials had bought into Manziel’s pre-draft promises to tone down the partying and leave his frat-boy lifestyle back in College Station, Texas, and they’ve been stunned by his non-stop antics, sources said.

Since they traded up to draft him in the first round, No. 22 overall, on May 8, he’s partied hard in New York City, Las Vegas twice, Los Angeles with hip-hop star Drake, Austin, Tex., Houston, Tex. and at pop star Justin Bieber’s house in Beverly Hills with the likes of world boxing champ Floyd Mayweather.

The romp across the country — complete with photos of him drinking magnums of champagne and spraying it around clubs — has been completely opposite of what Manziel told the Browns during his private workout for them at Texas A&M and during his pre-draft visit to Cleveland. It’s also been contrary to what he said publicly in the months leading up to the draft and after the Browns traded up to No. 22 to select him.

Is this the guy you want to build your franchise around? I know some people will point out that he’s a rich kid and that stuff happened in the offseason. Why not let him have his fun? We all have trade-offs in life. If you work at Burger King, nobody will care what you do away from work. If you work at a factory, no one will expect you to take work home with you. Put in your 40 hours and go home. If you want to be an NFL QB, you are on the job 24/7. Everything you say and do will be heavily scrutinized. That may not seem fair, but that’s just how it is.

And this isn’t a morality tale. It is about how you play. Randall Cunningham and Michael Vick both focused on having a good time more than how to find holes in the opposing defense. They both did remarkable things on the field, but left the game as underachievers. They didn’t work hard enough to develop their natural gifts.

Think about Nick Foles and how he carries himself. He’s boring, and I mean that as a compliment. Foles just wants to spend time with his family. He talks about the team in interviews and prefers not to focus on himself. Foles is a guy that you can absolutely build a team around, in terms of the kind of person he is. The test for Foles is for him to show that he can be that good on the field (for a full season…we all loved what he did for 10 starts in 2013).

I hope Manziel pans out as an NFL player because the league is more fun when there are great QBs to watch, but I am glad the Eagles passed on him. It would have been nerve-racking to follow his every off-the-field move. Nick Foles won’t have your jaw hitting the floor on many Sundays, but he also won’t have you cringing every time time you hear his name in the offseason.

* * * * *

If you want to hear Nick say boring things, PE.com has his press conference from today.

Bliss.

* * * * *

Great stuff from Philly writers on Chip Kelly.

Les Bowen

MY FAVORITE instance of Chip being Chip came last August, when he named me the Eagles’ starting quarterback.

Kelly, harried by reporters (darn those reporters!) who wanted to know how he possibly could avoid naming Michael Vick the starter over Nick Foles, given Vick’s 13-for-15 performance through the first two preseason games, was trying to make the point that naming someone a starter in the preseason wasn’t that big a deal. So he said if we had to have a name, fine, Les Bowen was the starter.

My tenure only lasted a few days, before Kelly had a chance to sit down with Vick and Foles and tell them what they’d undoubtedly figured out – that Vick had won the preseason competition. Of course, Mike, like me, eventually fell victim to Chip’s fickle nature (also to Foles throwing seven TD passes in Oakland, and Mike not being able to stay healthy.) By Thanksgiving, Chip had sarcastically proclaimed Nick the starter for the next thousand years.

But Mike and I know Nick shouldn’t count on that.

That’s great stuff from Les.

Domo was less funny, but offered interesting insight.

Paul Domowitch

WHEN ANDY REID was the Eagles’ coach and wanted to go to a Phillies game, he usually had someone from the organization call over and arrange for him to enter through a private entrance so he wouldn’t have to mingle with the common folk.

Reid liked the city’s sports fans, liked their passion. But he liked them a lot better from a distance.

Not Chip Kelly. The guy owns a place inΒ Center City. He eats and drinks and shops in the city. He is as approachable as an insurance man and enjoys shooting the bull with the natives.

When he goes to a Phillies game, he picks up his tickets himself and enters through one of the main gates and sits with the working-stiff peeps, not up in a hoity-toity luxury suite. Maybe all of that will change if he has a losing season and the fans unload on him. But I doubt it. He is who he is.

Asked recently about the perception that he doesn’t take himself or anything else too seriously, he replied: “I have great respect for the game [of football]. I always will have great respect for the game. But I don’t think anybody should take themselves too seriously. I take my job very seriously, but I don’t take myself very seriously.”

I think Chip Kelly is one popular coach, with just about everybody.

_


60 Comments on “Beware of Shiny Objects”

  1. 1 ACViking said at 12:25 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    Re: In the Cheap Seats

    Kelly’s a guy who’s completely comfortable in his skin — at all times and all places, apparently.

    A rarity.

    What I’d love to see is Lurie or Roseman mingling with the old 700-level types. Or at least in the open with the fans.

    I suspect the Eagles will win 5 straight Super Bowls before that ever happens.

    NFL owners and GMs are like Big Red: love to see paying fans in the seats …. At a safe distance.

    That’s too bad. And makes Kelly so much easier to like.

  2. 2 TommyLawlor said at 12:32 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    Could you go over the part about the Eagles winning 5 straight Super Bowls again? πŸ™‚

  3. 3 OregonDucker said at 2:23 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    Fasten your seat-belt Tommy…. cool things are about to happen! I know, because I’ve seen this movie before.

  4. 4 Dominik said at 12:29 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    It was his 2nd season as HC at Oregon in which Chip got to the Championship game…

  5. 5 Always Hopeful said at 4:38 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    Lurie can watch the games from Japan if he can help make 5 SB wins happen πŸ™‚

  6. 6 D3FB said at 12:58 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    I think a big difference in their willingness to sit in the cheap seats is where they came from.

    Chip Kelly is a brilliant, but singularly focused man from New Hampshire.

    Roseman grew up in Marlboro Township, NJ
    Median household income in 2010: $130K a year

    Lurie was a millionaire the minute he came out of the womb, as his Grandfather owned General Cinema movie theaters.

  7. 7 ICDogg said at 1:35 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    I kind of like the cheap seats. Well, not the ones in the corners, but if you have a good central location, only from far up, you can’t see the details as well but your “wide angle view” allows you to see a lot more at once.

  8. 8 Jernst said at 1:56 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    I agree. Some of the best seats in the house are right at the front bottom of the second level over hang, slightly off center (about 30-35 yard line). Gives you a great vantage point to see plays develop. Especially, running plays. From the sidelines its hard to see all the oline movement and the holes form. From the slightly off center seats you can really see the plays design and how they’re executing.

  9. 9 Jernst said at 1:52 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    Yea, I agree completely. As a season ticket holder I have seats right beneath the owners box. You can see Jeffrey and Howie sitting up there and can damn near reach out and high five them if you wanted to or if they’d even consider touching you. People in that section are hardly your old 700 level types and for the most part are very respectful.

    But, sometimes fans would turn around occasionally and yell something like, “Hey Howie, ya think you can call down and get Reid to hand the ball to his best player once or twice this half?” Nothing too egregious or damaging. Hell, I’ve done it a few times.

    Most instances are met with 1 or 2 security guards swarming over to the person and explaining to them that Laurie and Roseman have directed them to throw anyone who yells directly at them out of the stadium and that if they do it again they will be escorted out. It’s that level of insecurity and sensitivity that really doesn’t play well with Philly fans, especially when it’s all in good fun and not at all disruptive.

  10. 10 ICDogg said at 1:22 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    Anyone know in which part of Center City Chip lives?

  11. 11 Insomniac said at 1:40 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    Carl Nicks is a FA. Should there be any interest in him?

  12. 12 D3FB said at 1:50 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    Doesn’t fit the athletic zone blocking mold. More of a mauler.

  13. 13 anon said at 2:39 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    Man that staph infection on his toe might have ruined his career. I know what my lawyers would be doing right now.

  14. 14 ICDogg said at 3:51 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    Apparently they came to a settlement, so I think a lawsuit is out of the picture.

  15. 15 Media Mike said at 6:55 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    I think the Giants, and their bad O-line, should double down on bad signings and bring in Nicks to continue their march towards a 4th place finish in division and full dismantling of their horrible team.

  16. 16 Dominik said at 6:43 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    A friend of mine, who lifes in Germany but is a Boston native and therefore a Patriots fans, went to Training camp of the Patriots last year. He went with his girlfriend to a store nearby the facility to buy some food. He was looking for something, came back and saw his girlfriend talking to Belichick. She’s from Croatia, Belichick has ancestors from there (grandparents). Belichick saw a tattoo she has with croatian backround and started talking to her. My buddy stood by them for like 5 minutes while they talked about Croatia – super nervous, of course, but didn’t want to interrupt them. Belichick then introduced himself to my friend and went back to the training facility.

    My buddy asked his girlfriend if she knew who he was and she said: No, but that’s a really nice man. Knows a lot of things about Croatia.

    That moments somehow means a lot for my buddy. He’s obviously idolizing Belichick as a Patriots fan.

    Now, to turn this into Chip Kellys personality: I don’t know anything about Baseball and found it very boring when I watched some games for 5-10 minutes. But if you give me a seat nearby Kelly, I watch 10 Baseball games in a row. Just to ask him a few questions about football and life during the breaks – while he probably quotes professor Azz many times. πŸ˜€

  17. 17 Media Mike said at 6:57 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    And I know Kelly wouldn’t give a .240 hitter with lazy habits, a me-first mentality, a propensity to pop up / strike out in big situations, and declining skills a 3 year $33 million contact with a vesting option for a 4th year at $11 million as well.

    #FireRuben

  18. 18 Dominik said at 7:04 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    Surprisingly, I have no idea what you’re talking about. πŸ˜‰

  19. 19 Media Mike said at 7:05 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    I”m badmouthing Jimmy Rollins, the shortstop of the Phillies.

    And Ruben Amaro is their GM who should be fired.

  20. 20 Dominik said at 7:06 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    I only knew it had something to do with Baseball and the Phillies. πŸ˜‰

  21. 21 Ark87 said at 12:37 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    I find the most fun games to play are often the most boring to watch. Also, a lot of those sports don’t translate well to the pro’s. After all they were all conceived by and first played by amateurs, designed for the joy of the players rather than the spectators.The efficiency of professional performance can really smother the nuance out of a game and kill creativity, quickly devolving into a game of roster building and analytics.

  22. 22 Jernst said at 1:59 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    One of the best descriptions I’ve heard on baseball yet. God, I loved playing and miss it tremendously. But, I haven’t watched a single baseball game since Joe Carter took Mitch Williams deep in the ’93 series.

  23. 23 Media Mike said at 6:53 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    Great writing on Manziel! His complete and total lack of any common sense coupled with his dead end scramble bum style play make him exactly the opposite of any guy I want quarterbacking my team.

  24. 24 Jernst said at 2:03 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    He’ll flame out fast. There has never been a QB at the professional level that fully succeeded without mastering the craft. And, there’s been a lot of even more talented and physically impressive specimens that have tried. If Randall and Vick couldn’t win without mastering the craft there’s little hope for Manziel, who’s not half the athlete that either of those guys were. Furthermore, every one of the QBs that has mastered it will tell you that it takes hours a day and years of your life to master. None of them were wasting time doing rails with Justin Beiber in the off season. They were out practicing their craft and mastering the position.

  25. 25 Media Mike said at 6:59 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    I’m very happy to read that Tommy is reiterating that the Eagles DO NOT need a running QB to be successful under Kelly. That meme needs to be retired for good. I want no parts of this team, or this league to be quite honest, degenerating to a collection of stiffs who do nothing but run around and have no concept on how to pass.

    I’ll be rooting for Bridgewater to become the class of this rookie QB class under Norv Turner.

  26. 26 Scott J said at 8:47 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    Manziel is one accident away from a rehab clinic.

  27. 27 Media Mike said at 10:13 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    Or one hit from scary D men in the AFC North!

  28. 28 Jernst said at 2:04 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    he reminds me of the Lindsey Lohan of QBs

  29. 29 barneygoogle said at 10:48 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    Wouldn’t be surprized if Manziel wound up an Eagle–after failing at Cleveland, in and out of rehab, bankruptcy, failure with a second team–and finally a cheap Eagle free-agent at 25, trying to turn around his life and career as a backup QB, in Kelly’s system.
    Seems like Sanchez liked the idea of a rebirth here.

  30. 30 TommyLawlor said at 11:07 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    This I might be open to.

  31. 31 Ark87 said at 11:20 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    Like Mike Vick. Whatever people think of him, that signing paid dividends way beyond the amount of risk that went into it.

  32. 32 Jernst said at 2:06 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    What could have been too. Take that one bad pass away against a loaded Green Bay team that ended up winning the Super Bowl that year and there wasn’t a lot standing in front of us and at the very least another NFCCG or Super Bowl.

  33. 33 shah8 said at 4:30 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    No, take an Akers that hadn’t heard his daughter had cancer, and we win that game.

  34. 34 Ark87 said at 11:17 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    Ah Nick, so boring, so great. We’ve had a ton of super stars in this town over the years, so this is pretty refreshing, even going into year 3 of Nick basically saying the same stuff.

    Mac wearing his beast shirt, and looking the part. Desire aside, that dude is plenty physically capable of blocking for this team.

    Over the off season I’ve been seeing very little coverage of Earl Wolff but he’s been popping up all over. Whether its shooting the breeze with Mac in a b-roll, or coming up in other players interviews (seems like everybody is taking him under their wings, Sconces and Malcolm Jenkins, specifically). Seems like a pretty popular guy in the locker room. I wonder if everybody see’s a likable kid they want to help out, or if they see a bright potential for him as a player and leader as he matures on this team.

  35. 35 Jernst said at 2:15 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    Mac does look beastly, doesn’t he? Does not look like the type of WR that would cringe and fall into the fetal position at the mere thought of contact. I remember him looking pretty big and buff prior to 2012 too and he still played like a giant wuss, but let’s hope he’s got his head on right, realizes he’s no longer playing with the big boys, but rather is one himself and uses that strength like I know he can.

    One of the most disappointing and perplexing thing about Maclin is how absolutely frightened he looked when we asked him to return kicks and punts his rookie year and a few times after that. For being such a dynamic returner in college I was shocked at how out of place he looked doing it in the pros. Looked like he had never done it before and wanted no part of it.

    I have really high hopes for Earl Wolff. Check out his spider graph…http://mockdraftable.com/player/4310/. If he was 2 inches taller he goes in the second round. Dawkins was listed at 6 ft, but I’ve seen the man in person. If he’s over 5’11 I’d be shocked. Not saying I expect Wolff to become Dawkins or even Dawkins-esque, just saying you don’t NEED to be tall to be an imposing force at the safety position.

  36. 36 Ark87 said at 3:57 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    Mac might be a bit too smart for his own success in this sport, hah. He definitely comes from the Marvin Harrison school of take care of yourself, live another play. I can tolerate (grudgingly, since facing the big hit gives you a chance of breaking a tackle and scoring big) him giving up a yard to avoid a big hit if:
    1) he’s secured a first down on said dive
    2) he fights if he doesn’t have a first down
    3) he blocks to the whistle, he thinks he can get away with weak effort when the play wasn’t really in his direction. Shady famously cut a run back in Mac’s direction and had one man to beat and got tackled, popped up screaming at Maclin because he sort of took the play off because the play was supposed to go the other way. In this scheme Shady picking a hole is part of the play design. Mac will definitely be coached to block no matter what, so we’ll see what happens.

    I like a lot about Mac, but like you, I’d also like to see him be more physical.

  37. 37 P_P_K said at 11:46 AM on July 26th, 2014:

    The Chip-Nick vibe is so different from Andy-Donovan. Andy didn’t say anything and Don struggled to say the right thing. Chip and Nick seem like straight-shooters, their walk and their talk are refreshingly open and honest.

  38. 38 Ark87 said at 12:05 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    I think the fascination with the mobile QB will continue for some time. In the most casual of fan, it’s fun and exciting, and someone connected the dots for them that Chip made effective use of mobile QB’s in his Ducks’ offenses. A ton (but definitely not all) of people in between the casual fan and coaches, from posters obsessing on message boards across the web like us, and analysts of every level, will watch tape on the Eagles, see an offense that still utilizes the legs of the QB, see the gaping hole in the defense the Nick sort of saunters through for 5-15 yards and people can’t help but think, “oh my god could you imagine if he could run?” Of course there is tape of that with Mike Vick, defenses just defend that possibility when the QB can run. Can that open up other things? Sure, but it all depends on the QB’s other talents to take advantage of the other openings.

    I think the other part that will continue the narrative will be the NFC Championship game. It just seemed too easy for the Seahawks to dominate the pass and run game against just about anyone. But then Kaepernick would bust off a huge run all but guaranteeing at least 3 precious points in that defensive slug out. 2 Weeks later, the Seahawks straight up embarrass a team with quite literally in every measurable sense, the best offense of all time. And a lot of people came away feeling like it’s just too easy to defend a team that just hands off or throws the ball.

  39. 39 Dominik said at 12:26 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    Interesting take about NFC CCG and SB. Have to say though, it’s not entirely fair to the Broncos. It was their worst performance of the season during the time when they needed their best. Horrible, but not their true standard. I don’t want to compare the Eagles – Vikings game to the SB, but that clearly was an outlier for us. Nothing went our way.

    When you fumble on the first snap on Offense, in the Super Bowl, you know that something isn’t right. πŸ˜‰

  40. 40 Ark87 said at 12:47 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    I totally agree. I’d take the Bronco’s offense over the 9ers any day of the week against any opponent every time. But consecutive results like that on the biggest stages the sport has to offer has reinforced a lot of sports talk saying things like “you’ve got to be a dual threat in this league in this day and age.”

  41. 41 shah8 said at 4:34 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    Eh?

    No, passing prolific offenses flop in Super Bowls all the time.

    Besides, the real issue was that Manning is too old to be able to succeed against genuine playoff caliber defenses. When you can’t move well enough or throw hard enough (without necessary form), you don’t get many chances to succeed against a competent and talented defense going for all of the bananas.

  42. 42 Ark87 said at 5:29 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    Manning often struggled in the biggest games at all ages. Ton’s of Championships, 2 super bowl losses, his one win was good enough to get the job done but his performance was well below his standard. Seattle was way beyond competent, though. Was definitely way too much for him on that day.

  43. 43 xeynon said at 10:44 AM on July 27th, 2014:

    It’s the definition of a small sample size to look at that NFC championship game as if it somehow augurs the future of the sport. Let’s even put aside the injury issue (which history suggests you shouldn’t with a running quarterback). Kaepernick is a good player, but he still has serious holes in his game – they just happen to involving making certain reads/throws rather than being unable to run with the ball. Part of the reason the team needed him to make those dazzling runs was that his inability to consistently beat the defense with accurate throws put them in a situation where there were no other options. Just the season before last a team with a traditional lead-footed pocket passer won the Super Bowl over those very same 49ers. The year before that it was the Giants with Eli. The classic model quarterback is not done yet.

  44. 44 Jernst said at 12:55 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    Watching Manziel in college was phenomenally fun and your recollection of his almost non stop highlights are exactly how I remember them. However I always felt that I never saw him do ANYTHING that was consistently reproducible at the pro level. You’re just not going to be able to run around in the pocket like a mad man making pro athletes fall at your feet and heave it downfield and expect your 6’5″ WR to out jump and out muscle the DB every time you need to make a play.

    GEAGLE mentioned a throw by Nick in his first year while the line was a mess, he saw immediate pressure, moved slightly in the pocket and rifled a pass that hit Avant in the ear hole before he could get his head around after making his break. The pass was incomplete, but the skill to recognize the blitz, functional mobility to avoid immediate pressure up the middle with minimal wasted motion and the anticipation and accuracy to place the ball in Avants ear, all within a half a second is not only essential to success at the pro level but something that is reproducible and a skill you can consistently win with.

    If Michael Vick and Cunningham who were even more athletically gifted than Manziel couldn’t consistently win with that strategy neither will he. And, he’ll learn the hard way that he should have spent these off seasons training and perfecting those skills rather than blowing lines in a Las Vegas bathroom with the Beebs.

    On a side note, a rolled up $20 bill doesn’t loosely insinuate cocaine use, it damn near proves it. What else would you ever roll up a $20 bill for except to snort lines of something up your nose. And I doubt he was out partying and thought I should do a line of vitamin c in the bathroom so I can recover from tonight and train hard tomorrow.

  45. 45 P_P_K said at 1:57 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    I agree with everything you say about Maniel and about the $20. Trainwreck ahead in Cleveland.

  46. 46 TommyLawlor said at 2:16 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    You don’t know if Johnny rolled up the $20 to mess with people by making it look like something was going on. And that’s almost as bad. That is asking for negative attention to come your way so you can enjoy messing with the media.

    Dumb either way.

    And you’re right about Manziel’s great plays in college not necessarily translating to the NFL. We’ve seen that plenty of times with past collegiate stars.

  47. 47 Jernst said at 2:26 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    I hear ya, Tommy. I see what you’re saying. I can’t prove with 100% certainty that he snorted a fat line of coke up his nose that night. But, if you want to get all Descartes about it, I can’t really prove anything with 100% certainty, with the exception of the fact that I know I, myself, exist. “I think, therefore I am.” Everything else technically could be the matrix, we don’t know for sure.

    But, if the only plausible explanation for that picture that someone can come up with is that a rookie QB, entering a training camp competition for the starting QB position, who dropped in the draft for partying too much in college, was purposefully rolling up a $20 bill and posing for a fake photo to make it look like he was out doing a schedule 1 narcotic for fun, just to mess with the media….then boy do I have some investment opportunities for you. My uncle the crown prince of Nigeria has a large sum of money that he needs to get into the states. All we need is your bank account #, routing #, SSN, birth date and we’ll transfer the money into your account and let you keep half it when my Uncle gets here.

  48. 48 Jernst said at 3:59 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    Sorry if this came off more snarky that I intended. Just reread it and it sounds like I’m being pretty sarcastic towards your view point, Tommy. Sorry if it came off that way. I do hear what you’re saying. But, gun to my head and really, just put anything at all on the line and I’m betting that he was doing drugs and would be pretty darn confident in that bet.

  49. 49 A_T_G said at 5:05 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    Tommy has my credit card number. I am sure he can cover your prince with that.

  50. 50 Jernst said at 2:40 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    also…i’d add, if he’s pretending to do cocaine in bathrooms and just letting rampant speculation about his drug habit run wild, that’s not just as bad, that’s worse, haha. So much worse. Going into a bathroom at a night club and doing a line of cocaine (in the stall, off the top of the toilet, like a civilized member of society) at least makes sense in the incredibly dumb, I’m going to a club tonight and am going to party like a rock star mentality. Have you ever been to one of those places. Of course they’re doing coke in the bathroom, there’s no way people could put up with how awful those places are without an entire cocktail of illegal substances.

    But, going to a club, not on copious amounts of drugs, and pretending to do drugs in a bathroom to play Andy Kaufman games with the media, before you’ve even thrown your first professional pass…that’s just weird…plain crazy in the coconut, Buffalo Bill doing the wee wee dance…weird

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-ac87-6n3I

  51. 51 Ark87 said at 4:02 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    Good point, but I gotta say, I loved it when Mathis trolled the media into thinking he responded to the media getting its’ feathers ruffled over the rookie dinner by punishing the rookies with an even more outrageous dinner bill. So while I think Manziel is an idiot, I can’t hold the coke trolling against him too much since I love Mathis so much.

  52. 52 Jernst said at 4:06 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    Mathis later posted a picture of the fake bill on the red polo shirt that he used to look like a table cloth and everyone (except the media) had a great laugh over the prank.

    You would think that if it’s some sort of prank, and unless he’s the reincarnation of Andy Kaufman, that he’d come out and say so (or show so) while everyone is accusing him of drug use.

  53. 53 Ark87 said at 4:12 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    True. Also, while Mathis is very awesome, the children don’t wear Mathis jersies. Kids don’t want to grow up to be just like Evan, they want to be Johnny…*shudder*

  54. 54 Jernst said at 4:22 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    That’s the true tragedy here…all the kids should want to be like Mathis! Mathis is funny and endearing I’d want to have a beer with that dude. Manziel isn’t funny at all he’s just an annoying little spoiled brat. I just want to give him and Justin Beiber the ass whooping they deserves. If you haven’t read the piece on Manziel that Tommy linked to above, it’s a really great piece and gives you a pretty clear picture of what type of brat this kid is.

  55. 55 Cafone said at 1:35 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    I think Manziel is handling this the right way. He’s Johnny Football and he’s a first round draft pick and he’s partying with superstars. Superstars aren’t going to want to party with the washed-out failed draft pick that he will be in a few years, so he’s taking advantage of it now.

    What’s his alternative? Try real hard? Is that going to give him the NFL skills he lacks? In Cleveland? If Manziel said and did all the right things and was somehow named Cleveland’s starter it would still be a disaster. Again, it’s Cleveland. He might get the starting job anyway, even if he shows up drunk on opening day and flips off the fans.

    In the vein of what barneygoogle said below, Manziel is a potential failure/redemption story, and the failure part hasn’t come yet.

  56. 56 Dominik said at 1:49 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    Per Adam Schefter:

    49ers RB Kendall Hunter tore his ACL in yesterday’s practice, per official familiar with injury.

    Damn, damn, damn it. No LMJ for us. So it’s Josey (great story, but is he NFL ready?), Tucker or only 3 RBs. Would have loved LMJ, at least it would have been worth a try.

    It’s sad for everyone involved. For Hunter, obviously, for the 49ers, since they lost their back-up RB. For LMJ, because he will rot on the bench as #3/4 RB in a scheme he’s no fit and for us because we are a little bit short at RB depth.

    Only slim chance of hope is that the 49ers hate LMJ as scheme fit so much that they prefer their UDFA RB Hampton over LMJ as #4. But I wouldn’t count on that, since LMJ is one of their primary return guys, at least he was.

  57. 57 Sean Stott said at 9:20 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    I don’t understand why a team would draft Johnny to only then turn around and try to put a leash on him. You either take him or you don’t; you don’t take him and try to immediately change him. A lot of his skill comes from his swagger, you take that away and you take away Johnny Football.

    I love Johnny.

  58. 58 Jernst said at 10:57 PM on July 26th, 2014:

    I know there’s probably a direct correlation between your own perceived level of swagger and doing cocaine (to everyone else you just look like a crazed lunatic with dry mouth that’s chewing on your tongue), but I really don’t think that, as an organization, it’s too much to ask that your star first round QB who traded up for and just gave a few million dollars to changes enough to dedicate himself to his craft, prepare the right way for the upcoming season and, ultimately, NOT get photographed rolling up $20 bills in a night club bathroom…but that’s just my take.

  59. 59 xeynon said at 5:46 AM on July 27th, 2014:

    I don’t dislike Johnny Manziel, but I don’t understand the “this is no big deal, it’s the offseason, the kid has personality” stuff either. Talent isn’t enough to be an elite NFL quarterback – you need a work ethic too. Brady, Manning, Brees, etc. aren’t out partying in the offseason, they’re continuing to work on their games. Manziel’s going to find out the hard way that if he wants to succeed at the highest level he’s going to have to work a lot harder than he has ever had before. The first time he throws three interceptions in the first half and puts his team in a big hole in an NFL game, he’s not going to be able to bail himself out with pure talent the way he did in college.

  60. 60 hrtak said at 8:44 AM on July 30th, 2014:

    Maybe Tim Tebow can be backup QB for us πŸ™‚