His agent has abandoned him and his father fears that he won’t live to see his 24th birthday in eight months, but Johnny Manziel still has Von Miller in his corner.
The Denver Broncos’ Super Bowl MVP shares a common Texas A&M background with Manziel, but, unlike Manziel, has managed to overcome problems that bothered him early in his career.
“I want to help get Johnny back to Johnny Manziel,” Miller said during Von Miller Day in DeSoto, Texas (via the Dallas Morning News). “Johnny Football, that’s beside the fact. I want to get Johnny back to being Johnny Manziel. I remember what it was for me when I was in a similar situation, it was the people around me that helped motivate me to get to the same Von that I was.
“He’s had people walk out on him. He’s had people who have given up on him. I’m not going to be that guy. I’ve never been that guy. Johnny’s my brother. I didn’t play with him at Texas A&M, but he’s my brother and we have a unique relationship. I’m here to help him no matter what it is. I’m tied to him, good or bad. You can’t ever count anybody out and I think everybody who has counted him out is just wrong.”
Manziel was dropped by one agent in February and lasted a short time with superagent Drew Rosenhaus, who said last week that Manziel had five days in which to seek treatment or their relationship would be terminated. The five days are up Monday. After an alleged domestic violence incident in January, Manziel’s father said he feared for his son’s life. As a Texas grand jury considers whether Manziel should be charged, he continues to make headlines for partying.
Last week, the latest headlines concerned an allegation that he had trashed a rental house in Los Angeles during a booze- and drug-fueled bash.
Miller has always been in Manziel’s corner. In fact, he devoted a great deal of his post-Super Bowl comments to speaking about the quarterback, who was cut in March by the Cleveland Browns. Miller, who has said he’d like to see Manziel as a Broncos teammate, said he speaks to the QB every day on FaceTime, but denied Manziel’s claim that the two were rooming together in L.A., where Miller is competing on “Dancing with the Stars.”
“We’re not but if we were, I don’t see a problem with that. He’s my brother. If any one of my biological brothers had problems and they moved in with me, nobody would have a problem with that,” Miller said. “It’s the same with Johnny, he’s brother. I don’t see a problem with him moving in. I’m here to help him. Over everything else, I’m going to be with him every single day. He’s not living with me, but we do continue to talk every single day and I’m here to help. I have his back.”