National Football League

Haden defends Manziel: They were heckling him for hours

Published Jun. 4, 2015 11:51 a.m. ET

foxsports

By Steve DelVecchio

Joe Haden has always been one of the biggest public supporters of Johnny Manziel, and his stance has not changed in the wake of Manziel’s latest incident involving an overzealous fan.

Haden told reporters after practice on Tuesday that he has been with Manziel recently when fans were harassing Manziel about his stint in rehab.

“I’m walking around with Johnny and we’re leaving a little restaurant, we’re walking back to valet going to the car, and then, you just hear, ‘How was rehab?'” Haden said, via Mary Kay Cabot of Northeast Ohio Media Group. “I’m like, ‘Dude, you’re just getting at him when we’re chilling, leaving the restaurant,’ so it’s just negativity that people are trying to get a reaction out of him, and it’s upsetting.”

As for the incident at the Byron Nelson Classic golf tournament last weekend, Haden does not believe Manziel overreacted by throwing a water bottle at the fan who was heckling him.

“I think it was a little bit overblown,” he added. “I mean, they were heckling him for two hours. I mean, can somebody please get the kid away from him? It gets annoying. It gets to the point where people are just out to say stuff just to get a reaction out of people, and I think we’ve got to look at it that way too. Who’s heckling to get an autograph for two hours? Once you say no, it should be, ‘That’s it.'”

If the fan was following Manziel around for two hours and harassing him, event security should have stepped in. If it was a matter of Manziel letting the fan get a rise out of him when he could have just walked away, he still has a lot to learn.

Some situations are unavoidable, but Manziel should stay home more often if he can’t control his temper. He’s always going to be a target for obnoxious fans, and we haven’t heard good things about where he currently sits on Cleveland’s depth chart.

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