Johnny Manziel proving more trouble than he’s worth

After another altercation with his girlfriend, Johnny Manziel is on a clear path of self-destruction. At this point, he’s just out there screaming for help and/or attention, and in the process he’s making it known he has no business in an NFL locker room right now. Not until he really, truly seeks help. Not until he changes.

Time after time, again and again, the Cleveland Browns have extended the hand of mercy. Just a couple of days ago, owner Jimmy Haslam appeared in an interview with 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland and said he didn’t think there was “any question” Manziel and the Browns could fix their relationship.

As we’ve grown to expect, it didn’t take Manziel long to put himself right back out there in a negative, public way.

Any time there are cops called out to a domestic dispute, it’s a red flag. And this isn’t the first time this has happened between Manziel and girlfriend, who had another altercation in October. Manziel also admitted to cops that he had been drinking earlier in the day.

He also reportedly showed up in Las Vegas wearing a blonde wig, a fake mustache, sun glasses and a hoodie and went by the name “Billy.”

Other incidents include a Christmas video posted on Instagram (h/t Busted Coverage) in which Manziel was seen drinking Four Loco and another Las Vegas mishap in which it appeared he was rolling up a bill for purposes of a nefarious nature.

These are just some of the “highlights” from the past couple of years.

New head coach Hue Jackson has already set his bar for the kind of quarterback who make his grade, via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. He wants:

“A guy that can help elevate this football team, not anybody that’s going to tear it down because it’s too hard in the National Football League to have a guy like that.

Perhaps Jackson’s language would be slightly different if Manziel were a few inches taller and could stand in the pocket and deliver strikes all over the field.

This isn’t the case with the former Texas A&M star, who oftentimes needs to escape the pocket to make big plays. His unfamiliarity with a pro system has been glaringly evident the first two years in Cleveland, though it would be unfair not to mention Manziel has shown some improvements.

But these improvements don’t put him up there with the top guys in the league. He’s still a huge project, which in combination with his off-field issues makes him a last-resort option at this point for NFL teams with any sense.

At this point it seems like the only landing spot that is even remotely possible would be with the Dallas Cowboys, if the Browns do cut him. Jerry Jones seems like the only NFL owner who would have enough optimism to look at Manziel and think to himself, “This kid is a winner!”

But do you really think for a second that Jones wouldn’t leap at the opportunity to land Robert Griffin III instead?

for the Washington quarterback to land back in Texas with the Cowboys.

Heck, even if the Cowboys don’t land RG3, they have the draft. If things stay the same at the top of the draft, Jones and the ‘Boys will almost certainly have a shot at one of the top three quarterbacks, all of whom are free of major red flags of an off-field nature.

The Browns are going to take a quarterback at No. 2. Count on it. Hue Jackson has already said some positive things about North Dakota State star Carson Wentz, who has blown scouts away during practice at the Senior Bowl. Matt Miller over at Bleacher Report reported the Wentz to Browns buzz “is real.”

Logic dictates Jackson is going to want to get Manziel out of the building as fast as he can to keep him away from his fresh lump of clay, whomever that ends up being.

It’s hard to imagine any other teams out there that would be willing to deal with the off-field drama that exists in Manziel’s world. At this point, he’s like the anti-Tim Tebow — all the annoying media attention without any of the smiles.