Top NFL prospect Baker Mayfield attended the Senior Bowl last month and wanted to make one thing clear: He’s not Johnny Manziel.
“Everybody wants to portray the bad boy, the Johnny Manziel stuff, but I love the game of football,” Mayfield told reporters. “There’s no doubt about that.”
Manziel agreed.
Appearing on the podcast “Pardon My Take,” Manziel said Baker and him are “completely different.”
“We have a similar background. We’re both from Texas,” Manziel said. “We both played Texas high school football, but he’s not me, and I’m not him. The way my wires are in my head and the way that I’m built and my makeup is completely different than Baker.”
Manziel, the 2012 Heisman winner, flamed out from the NFL after just two seasons in Cleveland. With the Browns, Manziel’s off-the-field incidents piled up, leading to his release.
Manziel said Monday he has been diagnosed as bipolar.
Mayfield has drawn comparisons for being an electric Heisman winner from Texas, while also having to deal with his own controversies. In February 2017, Mayfield was arrested for public intoxication. He also was benched briefly during the season after making an obscene gesture against Kansas.
Like Manziel, Mayfield is expected to be drafted in the first round.
In 2015, Manziel fell in the draft after being projected to go in the top 10. The Browns took him with the 22nd overall pick.
Manziel said he has “all the faith in the world” in Mayfield, adding the quarterback can learn from what he did wrong.
“Baker is fiery as hell. He gets a little amped up on the sidelines,” Manziel said. “Once you’re on the football field and you do some things that are a little outlandish, like guys do that all the time. Was it maybe a little bit too much? Sure. But at the end of the day, the guy made a mistake, he paid his dues, and I think he’ll be better off because of it, and he’ll learn from that.”
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.