By nearly every measure imaginable, Johnny Manziel's rookie year for the Cleveland Browns was an abysmal failure.
A season rife with issues of drinking, partying, a lack of preparation both on and off the field and a general inability to act as a professional culminated in a self-imposed rehab stint which ended just this week.
Manziel has a lot of work to do to get himself back into the good graces of the NFL, the Browns and, more importantly, the city and fans of Cleveland.
Manziel released a statement Friday, via the Browns website, acknowledging his various transgressions and assuming responsibility for the problems he caused during his initial NFL season and promising to make amends moving forward.
"I would like to thank my family, friends, the Browns organization, my teammates, and Browns fans everywhere, for your patience, understanding, and support during my stay at Caron. The doctors and staff have been amazing and what I've learned in the last couple of months has been tremendous. I owe private apologies to a lot of people that I disappointed but a very public one to the Browns organization and the fans that I let down. I take full responsibility for my actions and it's my intention to work very hard to regain everyone's trust and respect. I understand that will take time and will only happen through what I do and not what I say. I also understand there's a lot of curiosity about this but anyone who has a friend or family-member that's been through things like this knows it's an ongoing process. I'm going to continue to ask folks to try to respect my privacy as I determine to what degree I am comfortable talking about a subject which I consider very personal. Most of you have been considerate about that and I thank you for it. I look forward to seeing my teammates next week and focusing on football and my desire to be the best possible player, teammate, and man that I can be."
