Here’s Johnny…In a Bad Way

In what amounts to a scene out of The Shining, the once glorified Johnny Football decided to knock his ex-girlfriend senseless enough to where, according to an affidavit acquired by People Magazine, she lost hearing. He also threatened to kill her and himself. What's going on?

That's a legitimate question. Sure, it would be easy to write off Manziel as a problem child, as yet another rich boy who couldn't handle the limelight that comes with not only being a part of a wealthy family but also being a Heisman Trophy winner. It's easy to say that he just has an anger or alcohol problem. For some reason, and maybe because I've looked into this sort of thing, I believe that Manziel needs help. And a lot of it. the 23-year-old Manziel is at that age where mental illnesses such as schizophrenia develop. According to the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, 2.6 percent of the population age 18 years or older in any given year have bipolar disorder.

I'm not a psychiatrist. I can't say without a doubt that Manziel has a mental illness. But, what I can say is that the signs are there. I can also say that before he even starts considering football, the man needs to get his life in order. He also needs to do his time for beating up his ex-girlfriend. Then, he needs to at least rule out any sort of mental illness that might be causing his destructive behavior. Not drinking or partaking in illegal narcotics is a given. Manziel needs to go from Johnny Football to Johnny Jailed for a while. He needs to be forbidden from drinking alcohol and he has to go through random drug tests if and when he returns to football. Roger Goodell should at least bar him from the NFL for a year if not 2 years.

He needs to pay for what he's done. He also needs to get himself healthy. If I'm Manziel, I'm reaching out to Brandon Marshall big time right now.

If all of that happens, Johnny Football might actually return to the NFL as a decent fantasy football player. No, I'm not kidding. You can say what you want. But denying the fact that Manziel has innate football instincts at the quarterback position is denying the obvious. He felt the defensive rush about as well as any player ever in the history of college football. He, so far, has shown that same type of ability at the pro level. If they let Manziel study up on the pro game while he's wearing the orange jumpsuit, he should get a better feel of how NFL defensive coordinators disguise their coverage. He should have an idea of where seams could develop depending on the offensive line calls.

Johnny Manziel was always the player that needed to spend as much time as he could in the video room. Johnny Football was the guy that had the right techniques down. His personal workout for NFL Scouts a couple of years ago was awesome. That's why he became a first round draft pick. To become Johnny Manziel, professional NFL football player, all Johnny Football needs to do is educate himself.

There's something else to consider. It could be that Manziel doesn't even want to play football anymore. Perhaps, the kid just wants to get on with his life. I'm right about the mental illness leaving football for good should be the case. Good luck to him if that's his decision. I hope that he gets well enough to be a decent, functioning, human being.