Video: Johnny Manziel Talks Relationship with LeBron James During Browns Tenure

Erin WalshFebruary 21, 2024

Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

Former Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel has some regrets about how he handled his relationship with former Cavaliers star LeBron James when they two were playing in Cleveland.

Manziel, who has been open about his battle with depression, told Shannon Sharpe on Club Shay Shay that James tried to be there for him during his tenure in Cleveland and that he brushed off the support from the now four-time NBA champion because he “was so depressed” and struggled to get out of bed.

Manziel siad:

“I remember, this is how bad off I was whenever I was in Cleveland, LeBron would text me every week to come over to the house and watch a game or play poker with the boys and just tried to be there, and I was so depressed for the first time in my life that even my biggest role model and inspiration in my life couldn’t get me out of bed to come and hang out with him. “When I went to the Cavs games I went. I was in, I was out. I didn’t really grasp and latch on to him in a way that I should have. And he tries to take me under his wing, and I’m just kind of nudging it away because of where my mental is and being just fully depressed, and where I was in my life. Is that an excuse? Absolutely not, because at the end of the day, the respect that I should have for them, giving me everything, should trump all else.”Club Shay Shay @ClubShayShay”@RealSkipBayless, I love you bro. I honestly feel like I let him down. … This ‘Johnny Manziel will be bigger than LeBron.’ It was never ever going to be a reality.” – @JManziel2

Full episode is streaming now wherever you listen to your podcasts and on YouTube. pic.twitter.com/SQJRLGiDc1

Manziel added that he’s embarrassed about how he handled his relationship with a number of people during his time in Cleveland, including James and Hall of Fame left tackle Joe Thomas:

“It’s tough. It’s embarrassing. It’s embarrassing to have been the guy that have let down some overall really great athletes in my time and in my generation. It’s something I carry hopefully with my head high right now but at the same time, internally, I know it eats me alive because they did more for me than I had gave in return to them. “And what a shallow kind of selfish way of life that I was living at that point in time and I have a lot regret, like, I regret wasting a couple of Joe Thomas’ last years in Cleveland. I regret disrespecting LeBron and not making sure what it meant to me. Showing him that I give a f–k enough to just do what’s right. To listen to Mav and listen to the team they built around me.”Manziel was selected by the Browns in the first round of the 2014 draft out of Texas A&M. He was the second quarterback off the board behind Blake Bortles and he entered Cleveland with a significant amount of hype.

The 31-year-old appeared in just two seasons for the Browns, suiting up in 14 games across 2014 and 2015, as he struggled with issues off the field.

Manziel’s comments to Sharpe are telling about where he was mentally during his tenure with the Browns, and they serve as a reminder that athletes, like everyone else, can sometimes struggle with their mental health.

Manziel told Sharpe that he would love the opportunity to come face-to-face with some of the people he disrespected during his Cleveland tenure and apologize