Despite Johnny Manziel’s desire to play football in 2016 (no, seriously), Tiki Barber spoke out for the rest of us who know the quarterback isn’t coming back any time soon.
The retired NFL running back and current radio host for CBS spoke with TMZ about Manziel, who he said he has always rooted for to succeed.
“I feel bad for him because he’s one of those kids you wanted to root for,” Barber said. “Even when he was screwing up early in the NFL, you just kept wanting to root for him. But he kept digging his own grave, and unfortunately it’s got to the point where if you’re an executive, it’s not worth the risk. You don’t know what the upside is. So it’s not worth the risk,” Barber said.
Indeed, Manziel continues to bar hop and live out his party lifestyle even to this day. He claimed recently that he works out every day, but it would appear the only exercises he is faithfully executing is 12-ounce curls.
His self-destructive ways became evident even during his first season in the NFL. After a rocky rookie campaign, he went in for more than two months of rehab and said he had amended his ways. It did take for a while, but it wasn’t long before he was back at it again, and the Cleveland Browns finally lost patience with him, releasing him this past winter.
Since being cut by the Browns, Manziel has been on a whirlwind tour of seemingly all the bars in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and other major American cities.
Meanwhile, he is about to head to court to fight his misdemeanor assault charges. If he loses in court and is convicted, Manziel could face up to a year in jail.
At this point, there likely isn’t a single team that would be interested in signing him to a contract, even just as a camp body. Wherever he goes, the gossip cops follow, and at this point he isn’t worth the hassle of dealing with that kind of coverage.