Cleveland Browns rookie Johnny Manziel discussed the fight he was involved in recently. Manziel indicated the fan was hassling him, and he said he tried to avoid confrontation "at all costs," but it was ultimately unavoidable.
Last week a fan alleged Manziel and his "entourage" assaulted him and his brother in the lobby of a condo building in Cleveland. On Friday, Manziel gave his account of the incident, saying the fan "approached me in the lobby, putting his hands on me and kind of toying with me."
"It was a very unfortunate situation, a situation that was tried to be averted at all costs, and one that [I] was unfortunately not able to really get away from," Manziel told reporters, according to ESPN. "I let [the Browns] know what really happened and wanted them to be on top of it from the very get-go. I'm very thankful for the Browns having my back in all this and at the same time supporting me on a situation that seemed to be a little blown out of proportion."
Manziel said he returned to the condo late with his roommate after they both had dinner with his mother. He also refuted the report he had been punched in the face by lifting his beanie and showing his un-bruised face to the media.
When asked if he threw a punch, he declined to answer.
"I'm not going to go into exact details of everything that happened," said Manziel. "It was broken up really fast, and at the time it was more toward my roommate than it was toward me, the initial offering.
"After there had been some aggressiveness and hostility in the lobby, we didn't want to enter the elevator with this guy. There was kind of a brief pause trying to decide if we were going to get into the elevator and avert this while thing or if they were going to go up."
Manziel indicated he is not in any trouble with the police, and the Browns said they are continuing to gather facts.
