NFL fumbles
Columnist says Johnny Manziel should be off Browns’ roster during probe of incident,
Why is Johnny Manziel still on the Cleveland Browns’ roster?
Why hasn’t he been put on paid leave? Why hasn’t he been placed on the NFL commissioner’s exempt list, which is the one place he belongs in the wake of what happened in the Cleveland suburb of Avon, Ohio, on the evening of Oct. 12?
The NFL is now dealing with another altercation, another video and another allegation of domestic violence. Only this time, unlike with Ray Rice, it’s the words, not the alleged actions, that were caught on camera, this time from a police dash-cam:
Officer: “What happened today? You guys are obviously in this car?”
Manziel’s girlfriend Colleen Crowley: “He’s like, I don’t know, he hit me a couple of times.”
Officer: “While you were in the car?”
Crowley: “Yeah, but I don’t want to … please don’t make (inaudible). Please don’t.”
She also could be heard saying Manziel “hurt me several times.” And, “I’m in fear for my life.”
Little more than a year after the league lived through the domestic violence nightmare induced by Rice, Greg Hardy and Adrian Peterson, how is it possible that Manziel is on the active roster of an NFL team?
The league says it is investigating before coming to a conclusion about what happened, which is standard operating procedure under its new, 10-month-old personal-conduct policy.
Let’s hope the investigators get their answers quickly, as in before Sunday’s game. This is a highprofile case that demands answers, and action.
That said, it is laudable that the NFL has a policy that doesn’t rely just on local law enforcement, but actually sends trained professionals to the scene to conduct their own independent investigation. This is in sharp contrast to the NHL, which has said it is not investigating the ongoing controversy over a sexual assault allegation against Patrick Kane, an admission that seems woefully behind the times in today’s highwire professional sports environment.
Manziel, a second-year player who has proved to be little more than a sideshow in his brief time in the pros, told police during the Oct. 12 incident that he and Crowley had been drinking in downtown Cleveland earlier in the day. Police did not believe Manziel was intoxicated.
This presents another problem for Manziel, for the Browns and for the league. Manziel spent 10 weeks in a rehabilitation facility earlier this year. The NFL has increasingly been linking the topics of domestic violence, substance abuse and driving under the influence in its educational seminars for players and staff members. For Manziel, this is serious and dangerous territory.
The police in Avon reported that the only visible injury Crowley suffered was an abrasion wound to her left forearm, which is consistent with Manziel’s story that he grabbed her while she was trying to jump out of his car as it was moving. Manziel also told the police that Crowley had thrown his wallet out the window of the moving car.
Crowley said she didn’t want to press charges, and both were allowed to leave the scene.
Enter the NFL. The league’s policy on paid leave says this:
“An individual may be put on paid leave if formally charged with a violent crime or sexual assault, or if the NFL investigation finds sufficient credible evidence that it appears a violation of the (personal conduct) policy has occurred. Paid leave will last until the completion of the NFL investigation or disposition of a criminal charge.”
This is exactly where Manziel belongs. The sooner he gets there, the better.