Cleveland Browns offensive tackle Joe Thomas has confessed that Jonny Manziel lost the trust of the team in his rookie season in the NFL.
Manziel was selected in the first round of the 2014 Draft by the AFC North side, but several pundits had reservations over the pick due to the 22-year-old's reputation for his partying antics.
The quarterback failed to earn the starting spot in training camp as he was beaten out by Brian Hoyer and failed to win the job until the final two weeks of the campaign, where he struggled immensely in his two starts.
Manziel checked into rehab for personal problems in February, and Thomas feels that was the right move to prove to his teammates how important the game is to him.
Thomas told ESPN: "I think he's going to have to prove to the team that football is important and being 'the man,' being the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, is important, it is his goal, his single goal in his life.
"You know, I think he lost probably a lot of trust among the guys on the team last year by the way he handled himself once he became the starter. And I think he had a lot of time to reflect, I'm guessing, after the season was over by the comments he made in the media and by his actions, checking himself into rehab. I think those were really positive steps.
"I'm hoping when we come back in April, we see a new Johnny and everybody's blown away with his commitment. And I think he's got the talent, so it's just a matter of if he commits himself to it, we can have a really good quarterback on our hands."
The Browns signed Josh McCown in the off-season to compete with Manziel for the starting job at quarterback in the 2015 season.
Simon Sinclair
