Browns' Critical Statement About Johnny Manziel is the Right Path to Take as an Organization

This morning, a thought popped in to my head about how the Cleveland Browns should handle the likely upcoming departure of quarterback Johnny Manziel. The standard around the NFL is to part ways with a player rather quietly, with a boilerplate statement wishing "so-and-so" the best with their future endeavors.

For what Manziel has put the fans and the organization through, I found myself actually wanting the Browns to continue going with their nontraditional offseason and just put Manziel on blast. If you're going to send him out, make sure the rest of our locker room -- which has no doubt been frustrated by Manziel too -- knows you're making it clear that Manziel won't be coddled any more, but rather held accountable. To my surprise, the Browns basically went through with that type of approach this afternoon, releasing a statement via Sashi Brown, the Executive Vice President of Football Operations:

"We've been clear about expectations for our players on and off the field. Johnny's continual involvement in incidents that run counter to those expectations undermines the hard work of his teammates and the reputation of our organization. His status with our team will be addressed when permitted by league rules. We will have no further comment at this time."

The new date for when the Browns can cut Manziel is March 9th, the start of the new league year. It was previously thought that the team could cut him in early February, but because the team (as well as almost every team in the NFL) rolled over their excess cap space from 2015, they couldn't absorb the cap hit required to cut Manziel.

After the Super Bowl, though, what it means is that any team that wants Manziel before he becomes a free agent can begin trying to trade for him. Cleveland will have a hard time finding buyers, but who knows -- maybe Jerry Jones in Dallas will throw Cleveland a conditional draft pick in 2017 or something.