The Cleveland Browns don't exactly seem like they're high on Johnny Manziel as a franchise quarterback.
One year after being the Browns' first-round draft pick, Manziel is already wearing out his welcome in Cleveland. A disastrous rookie season saw Manziel play in just two starts before a hamstring injury ensured his season would end on injured reserve.
Now, a damning report from ESPN details just how much Manziel struggled both on and off the field. Manziel entered the NFL as a noted problem child, and he clearly never matured during his rookie season.
ESPN interviewed 20 different Browns sources, and the consistent message was Manziel was a "joke."
As one player put it, Manziel throughout the entire 2014 season was a "100 percent joke."
"During the draft process, not one person interviewed by the team said he was going to grow up," said one source directly involved in the drafting of Manziel. "You can't blame Johnny. This is who he is. The team knew that."
"Johnny's his own worst enemy," one source said.
Some veterans "clearly didn't want to play for [Manziel]" because of the lack of readiness, and they responded better to undrafted rookie Connor Shaw in part because he knew the plays, sources said.
"His thing would be he's going to show up on Saturdays, 'I'm a gamer.' He'd show up for practices and games but that's about it," another source said. "Johnny thought he was an NFL superstar before he came [into the league]."
In two starts and five total games of action, Manziel completed 18 of 35 passes for 175 yards with two picks and no scores while being sacked three times. If he ever amounts to anything other than a backup QB in the NFL, it will probably be somewhere other than Cleveland.