After winning the Super Bowl, Broncos MVP Von Miller extended a message to his former Texas A&M teammate, Johnny Manziel, stating on Instagram, “I want to see you do good,” in reaction to the chain of troubling events that have unfolded for the Cleveland Browns quarterback in the last month.
Two years ago, Manziel was a Heisman winner and one of the most talked about draft picks in the NFL. After being selected by the Cleveland Browns, his performance for the team was underwhelming. The Cleveland Browns made a statement last week implying that, after a string of arrests, stints in rehab for alcoholism and a DUI, Manziel will be released from the team, stating, “We’ve been clear about expectations for our players on and off the field. Johnny’s continual involvement in incidents that run counter to those expectations undermines the hard work of his teammates and the reputation of our organization.”
Most troubling are the recent allegations against Manziel by his ex-girlfriend Colleen Crowley, who told Dallas police that Manziel had struck her several times during a recent argument. Her lawyers have since issued a statement saying that Manziel ruptured her left eardrum and had threatened to kill them both. A judge in Fort Worth has since issued a protective order against Manziel upon Crowley’s request.
Manziel is not the first player for the NFL to face domestic violence charges. In 2014, Baltimore Ravens runningback Ray Rice was caught on camera dragging his unconscious fiancee out of an elevator after a physical altercation, and, though he was never criminally convicted, former runningback OJ Simpson is infamously connected to the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Kansas City Chiefs lineback Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend and himself in 2012.
Domestic violence has become such a problematic issue within the NFL that this week the league released a statement that the NFL will no longer invite players with domestic violence or sexual assault convictions to the draft.
But how do we expect NFL players to compartmentalize violence into one part of their lives, on the field? As fans, we love the tackles, the sacks and the big hits that make football football. The violent nature of the sport is crucial to its entertainment value. And yet, we turn a blind eye to concussion rates (there were over 261 diagnosed concussions in the NFL in 2012, 229 in 2013, and 202 in 2014) and the effects those concussions have on players during retirement — Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a degenerative disease of the brain caused by repeated traumas to the brain, and is thought to be a major factor in the suicides of Ray Easterling, Dave Duerson and Junior Seau, three former NFL players.
We ignore the domestic violence that affects the friends and family of NFL players because the NFL is a $45 billion industry built for our entertainment. We ignore the concussions that affect the mental health of individuals who we often forget are people.
This article is not an excuse for Johnny Manziel’s behavior. If the domestic violence allegations against him are true, he must be held accountable for his actions because the NFL has, for too long, made too many exceptions for its players who commit violence off the field. Manziel is another violent product of too much money, fame and pressure from the NFL, and the real misfortune is that his story is not unique.
Katie Cameron, an A&E Editor for the Voice, can be reached for comment at kcameron16@wooster.edu