If Pats didn't write Manziel report, they should have

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If Browns owner Jimmy Haslam had just relied on that fake Patriots scouting report on Johnny Manziel and not the advice of an anonymous homeless man, maybe Cleveland could have avoided another round of embarrassment.

The sternly-worded letter released Tuesday morning by the Browns is a certain indication that the 2014 first-round pick is on his way out.

Which reminded me of the caustic Manziel evaluation allegedly compiled by the Patriots that fell into the hands of the folks at brobible.com in May of 2014.

When asked about its authenticity, Bill Belichick scoffed at the Internet in general but nobody with the team ever categorically denied the report was real.

Whoever made the thing up presaged Manziel’s NFL plummet pretty well.

One excerpt related to Manziel’s character from August of 2013 said, “Vibe on this guy keeps getting worse. Support staff members are sick of him and ready for him to go. Described as a cocky, me-guy. Loves football, FBI is high as well. Everything has been pretty well-documented in online articles about the kid, but sources say he's a spoiled brat (grandfather gives him allowance, father bought him luxury car). They say he was getting on people's nerves during the '12 season, but it went to another level after the ALUN game. Seems to enjoy putting himself in situations where he knows attention will follow him (TXUN frat party during summer).”

At the time I had the suspicion the thing was too well-developed to have been a ruse but could never get anyone to validate that. If it was a fake, the guy who constructed it needs a job in somebody’s scouting department.

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