Many continue to pay attention to the life and times of Johnny Manziel in order to determine whether the story ends with Manziel turning things around -- or whether it concludes with a much worse outcome.
Even though Manziel currently isn’t (and likely never again will be) employed by an NFL team, the NFL wants to help him. NFL executive V.P. of football operations Troy Vincent recently addressed the issue in an appearance on 610 Sports’ The Rob Maaddi Show in Philadelphia.
“It’s what you go to bed every night thinking how do you assist someone that’s really not interested or quite frankly doesn’t want to meet you halfway,” Vincent said. “You can have all the resources and they’re endless, confidential resources in your hometown, the individual club where the players or family members live. They’re there. They’re available. But if an individual is not willing to meet you halfway to get assistance, it’s very difficult because it’s something you can’t make an individual do anything.
“In this particular case, it’s obvious it’s gotten out of control,” Vincent said. “You see his parents. When a father speaks out about losing his son potentially to substance abuse, you know there’s a problem. Johnny’s not returning phone calls. He’s in different states. You kind of see him, you get notice of where he is off social media and that’s a challenge, but we won’t stop. We’ll continue to keep reaching out, letting Johnny know we love him, we care for him and we’re here when he’s willing and wants and is able to accept assistance, we’ll be there for him.”
Vincent said that he has been personally involved in reaching out to Manziel, along with the Browns “from ownership on down, General Manager, head coach, their player engagement director, everyone.”
“Again, we won’t stop,” Vincent said. “We’re just hoping that moment happens where Johnny is willing to accept some assistance and get the help that he really needs to just function as an individual. Forget football. But to really get his life turned around so that he can function as a good citizen and a good young man.”
Setting aside the Manziel angle, the fact that Vincent appeared on Rob Maaddi’s radio show should come as a major surprise to anyone who remembers the nuances of the Ray Rice case. It was Maaddi who reported, on behalf of the Associated Press, that someone in the league office had received the in-elevator video before TMZ published it, sparking a full-blown investigation by former FBI director Robert Mueller and, for at least a few days, creating the impression that Commissioner Roger Goodell’s tenure was in danger.
The league, needless to say, wasn’t happy with Maaddi’s report, which ultimately was not corroborated by Mueller’s investigation. The fact that Vincent nevertheless appeared on Maaddi’s show gives hope that the rest of us who have said and done far less antagonistic things will get some of these key employees to appear our own radio shows again, at some point.
The connection also invites reasonable speculation as to how long the two have been acquainted (Vincent provided an endorsement last year to a book Maaddi had written), and whether and to what extent they communicated before Maaddi dropped a bombshell that nearly brought down the league office.