Manziel says Mayfield has ‘paid his dues’

Ex-Browns bust diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Former Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel realizes fellow Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield has widely been labeled as Johnny Football 2.0.

If certain NFL teams buy into the comparison, it could harm Mayfield’s stock heading into the April 26 NFL draft. Manziel partied his way out of the league during his two seasons with the Browns.

But during an interview on Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take” podcast, released Monday, Manziel said there are major differences between him and Mayfield, who starred at the University of Oklahoma and is among the quarterback prospects the Browns — armed with the first and fourth overall picks — are thoroughly studying.

Manziel, a 2014 first-round pick (No. 22 overall), also revealed in an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” which aired Monday, that he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder last summer and is taking medication for it.

“Me and Baker, I feel like, have a really cool friendship, and I feel like he’s handling [the comparisons] the exact right way,” Manziel said on “Pardon My Take.” “He’s like, ‘Listen,’ and I’ll say the same thing: We’re completely different people. We have a similar background. We’re both from Texas. We both played Texas high school football, but he’s not me, and I’m not him. The way my wires are in my head and the way that I’m built and my makeup is completely different than Baker.”

There are questions about Mayfield’s character and maturity because he was arrested Feb. 25 and charged with public intoxication, disorderly conduct and fleeing. He also raised eyebrows by planting a flag on the field after a victory at Ohio State and grabbing his crotch while directing expletives toward his opponents from the sideline at Kansas.

“Baker is fiery as hell,” Manziel said. “He gets a little amped up on the sidelines. Once you’re on the football field and you do some things that are a little outlandish, like guys do that all the time. Was it maybe a little bit too much? Sure. But at the end of the day, the guy made a mistake, he paid his dues and I think he’ll be better off because of it and he’ll learn from that.

“But I have all the faith in the world in him. I think he’s going to be a really good player, and if anything, people can compare him to me, but he can learn from what I did wrong. He can try and take something that I did and make it a positive for him.”

For the first time since the Browns cut him March 11, 2016, Manziel has embarked on a media tour to speak about his substance-abuse issues and goal to return to the NFL.

He told “Good Morning America” he’s sober.

“Going back throughout the last couple years of my life, I was self-medicating with alcohol,” Manziel, 25, said. “That’s what I thought was making me happy and helping me get out of that depression to a point where I felt like I had some sense of happiness.

“But at the end of the day, you’re left staring at the ceiling by yourself and you’re back in that depression, back in that hole, that dark hole of sitting in a room by yourself, being super depressed, thinking about all the mistakes you’ve made in your life. Where did that get me? Where did that get me except out of the NFL? Where did that get me? Disgraced.”