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Report: Browns lied to cover up for drunk Johnny Manziel

Report: Browns lied to cover up for drunk Johnny Manziel

Three days after Johnny Manziel started his team's Week 16 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, the Cleveland Browns placed Manziel in concussion protocol after he showed up to the team facility complaining of concussion-like symptoms.

Manziel was declared out for the Browns' finale.

Except, he may not have been concussed at all. NFL Network, citing a discussion with a Cleveland player, is reporting that on the day the Browns placed Manziel in concussion protocol, he had reported to work drunk and the team lied to cover up for him.

After years of NFL teams denying the impact of concussions and some pushing players to practice and play through them, we now have an incident of a team fabricating one for a player.

The Browns released a statement on Tuesday afternoon, asserting that Manziel was in fact injured:

"Johnny Manziel came to our facility on the morning of December 30th and complained of concussion symptoms. He was tested by an independent neurologist and entered the league's concussion protocol. He remained in the protocol until January 12th after being cleared by the independent neurologist."

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Of course, we all know what followed after Manziel was declared out: he reportedly flew to Las Vegas a few days later, going AWOL, and not returning to Cleveland in time to be with his teammates as they faced the Pittsburgh Steelers in the final game of their season.

If the Browns enabled Manziel by covering up for him, it shouldn't have been too surprising that he took advantage of the team by taking off to party in Vegas.

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