Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith knows firsthand that NFL players enjoy partying. He was in that Dallas Cowboys locker room in the early 90s, when winning and partying was pretty much all the Cowboys did, after all.
But he sees Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel’s extracurricular activities as potentially worrisome.
“That lifestyle is going to be a short lifestyle--a short career lifestyle--if he continues that,” Smith told Shan and RJ of 105.3-FM The Fan on Tuesday. “As we used to say, you can’t keep burning the candle at both ends of the stick. The candle gets small fairly quick. Johnny is going to have to figure it out. Hopefully he’s not doing anything to hurt himself outside of drinking--which is going to harm his body and harm his performance anyway. At the end of the day, he’s going to have to learn to manage those things.”
Whether Manziel’s lifestyle off the field is blown out of proportion to some degree or not, Smith believes the former Heisman winner needs to mature if he’s going to realize his true potential.
First, let’s recognize--Johnny is young. I was young and dumb myself at one point in time,” Smith said. “But maturity itself, and maturing as a professional athlete, is something that is required of every pro football player. I think right now Johnny Manziel is going to get a glimpse of what negative press can do for you. A lot of people think negative press is good press--or any press is good press. It’s not.”
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