Bye-Bye Johnny; Browns Officially Release QB Johnny Manziel After Two Seasons

Two drafts ago the Cleveland Browns drafted quarterback Johnny Manziel amid a took of fanfare thinking he would be their answer long term at the quarterback position.

Today, he was shown the door is a five-line press release stating he had been waived by the franchise.

It was not a shock whatsoever that he was released, the only drama was possibly that it took this long into the NFL New Year in order to do it, as many felt it was going to happen on Wednesday.

It was a two year stint with with the Browns filled with nothing but headlines and controversy, with most of the headlines coming for things he did off the field, not on it.

He spent 10 weeks in rehab after his first season with the team, and now a year later is the subject of a grand jury investigation in Dallas after he was accused of assaulting his ex-girlfriend.

While he hasn’t been suspended by the NFL, there’s a chance that if he does catch on elsewhere, he may have to spend time away from the team for his off the field behavior.

With the release of Manizel the Browns are on the hook for his guaranteed base salaries of $1.169 million in 2016 and $1.004 million in 2017.

If he gets picked up off waivers (highly unlikely), that team would assume those guarantees.

The salary-cap hit for releasing Manziel by the Browns is $4.33 million.

Here’s the official release the Browns put out about Manizel about noon today:

The Cleveland Browns have waived QB Johnny Manziel.

Manziel appeared in 14 games with eight starts after being selected by the Browns in first round of the 2014 draft. He completed 147 of 258 passes for 1,675 yards with seven touchdowns and seven interceptions. He added 259 rushing yards and one score. Last season, Manziel started six games and threw for 1,500 yards with seven touchdowns and five interceptions, while adding 230 rushing yards.