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NFL notebook: Manziel reveals bipolar diagnosis

[February 13, 2018] Johnny Manziel was selfish, entitled and dealing with bipolar disorder.

Manziel, the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy in 2012 and a rapid flameout in the NFL, said Monday in an exclusive interview with ABC that he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder a year ago and since quit drinking.

"I'm working to try and make sure that I don't fall back into any type of depression, because I know where that leads me and I know how slippery a slope that is for me," Manziel told ABC News' "Good Morning America." "At the end of the day, I can't help that my wires are a little bit differently crossed than yours. I can't help my mental makeup of the way that I was created."

Manziel, 25, said he takes medication to treat his bipolar disorder. Manziel has not played football since 2015 and was released in 2016 by the Cleveland Browns, who drafted him in the first round in 2014.

--The Arizona Cardinals extended the contract of general manager Steve Keim through the 2022 season, the team announced.

The deal puts Keim on a similar timeline with newly hired head coach Steve Wilks, whose contract runs through 2021 with a team option for the 2022 season.

Keim, 45, has spent 19 years in the Cardinals' organization, including the last five as GM. Arizona won 34 games across his first three seasons at the helm, falling one win shy of a Super Bowl appearance in 2015. The Cardinals have gone 7-8-1 and 8-8 over the last two seasons, giving the team a 49-30-1 record during his tenure.

--Cincinnati Bengals backup quarterback AJ McCarron is expected to get a free agency ruling this week in his challenge of the team's decision to place him on the non-football injury list during his rookie season.

NFL players typically get unrestricted free agency after four years, but McCarron did not earn an accrued year in his 2014 rookie season after being placed on the non-football injury list for most of the season due to a shoulder injury.

As a result, the 27-year-old McCarron is set for restricted free agency, but he filed a grievance arguing that he should have been activated earlier. If the arbitration ruling goes in his favor Thursday, McCarron would hit the open market when free agency starts March 14.

--Former Browns wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi had most of his left hand amputated last year after an ATV accident, he revealed in a video published on The Players' Tribune.

Massaquoi showed the prosthetic he now wears in place of most of his left hand -- his thumb is intact. In the 4 1/2-minute video, he described taking a turn too sharply when he went trail riding on an ATV last April. The vehicle rolled and destroyed his left hand.

"What I'm seeing and what my friends are seeing are completely different. They're seeing what actually happened, I'm seeing what I think happened," Massaquoi said. "I'm thinking that I just broke my hand. My friend, on the other hand, thinks my hand just went through a meat grinder or something like that. Meanwhile you can see the panic and the fear in everybody."

Massaquoi was a second-round pick of the Browns in 2009. He caught 118 passes for 1,745 yards and seven touchdowns in 54 games with Cleveland (2009-2012).

--A woman told police that Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt "shoved and pushed" her in a dispute in Cleveland over the weekend, according to a police report obtained by Cleveland.com

Per the newspaper, Abigail Ottinger, 19, told police Hunt assaulted her around 3:45 a.m. Saturday morning outside Hunt's hotel apartment at The Metropolitan at the 9, while a woman who was with Hunt's friends told police that Ottinger assaulted her. One police report lists Hunt as a suspect, and another lists Ottinger as a suspect.

Cleveland police Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia told Cleveland.com the incident appears to be a cross complaint, meaning either accuser would be directed to the prosecutor's office if inclined to press charges.

--After sitting out the 2017 season and considering retirement, Washington Redskins safety Su'a Cravens has officially applied to the NFL for reinstatement off the team's reserve/left squad list, according to an NFL Network report.

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Cravens' agent, Fadde Mikhail, announced in a December statement that Cravens was cleared to resume all football activities after being treated for post-concussion syndrome and intended to return to the NFL in 2018.

Cravens, 22, battled a series of injuries through his first year and a half in the NFL, including a concussion, a biceps injury and a knee issue that required surgery to trim his meniscus. He reportedly considered retirement leading up to the 2017 season, ultimately deciding to step away from the team for a year to re-evaluate.

--Former Indianapolis Colts cornerback Vontae Davis has been cleared in his recovery from core muscle surgery and is expected to draw interest from teams soon, according to an ESPN report.

Davis, who will turn 30 in May, is a free agent who can sign at any time because he was released rather than having his contract expire. Davis was released by the Colts in November after seeking additional medical opinions and opting to have surgery.

Acquired from the Miami Dolphins for a second-round pick in 2012, Davis spent parts of six seasons with the Colts, tallying 13 interceptions and 75 passes defensed in 76 games (all starts) and earning two Pro Bowl selections. Davis nabbed nine interceptions and defended 31 passes in three seasons with the Dolphins after Miami took him 25th overall in the 2009 draft.

--Houston Texans tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz says he is contemplating retirement after sustaining three concussions in 2017.

"You can't go repair your brain," Fiedorowicz told the Northwest (Ill.) Herald. "It's not like an ACL or shoulder. That's serious. I took some dingers. There was a couple of weeks there where I was having some tough times. This is what I've done my whole life, so to think that I'm going to walk away is tough. It's not something that I thought of doing, because I signed the new deal, anytime soon. Life goes on, whatever happens."

Fiedorowicz, 26, signed a three-year, $21.5 million contract extension before last season with $10 million guaranteed. His $5 million base salary for 2018 is fully guaranteed, but the Houston Chronicle reported it can be reduced to $2.8 million if he is unable to play due to concussions.

--Entering the final year of his rookie contract, wide receiver Mike Evans has not had contract discussions with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and is planning to play out 2018 on his fifth-year option, according to his agent.

"We're not doing any negotiating (right now)," agent Deryk Gilmore of Day 1 Sports and Entertainment told PewterReport.com. "We're just going to wait and play it out."

Evans has 309 receptions for 4,579 yards and 32 touchdowns in four seasons since the Bucs took him seventh overall in the 2014 draft. He is one of only three players in NFL history (Randy Moss, A.J. Green) to top 1,000 receiving yards in each of his first four NFL seasons.

--Indianapolis Colts owner and CEO Jim Irsay donated $25,000 to establish the Edwin Jackson Memorial Scholarship on Monday, the day the former linebacker was laid to rest in Atlanta.

Jackson, who was 26 years old, was killed on Feb. 4 when he was struck by a truck that police said was driven by an undocumented immigrant.

--After the team's most successful campaign in more than a decade, the Jacksonville Jaguars announced plans to debut new uniforms and remove all tarps from seats at EverBank Field for the 2018 season.

The team's current uniforms -- featuring the league's only two-tone helmet -- were introduced in 2013, along with a slight update of the traditional jaguar head logo. Jacksonville's previous iteration of uniforms debuted in 2008, marking the franchise's first major departure from the original look it debuted in its inaugural season in 1995.

Meanwhile, the removal of the stadium's tarps will open up 3,501 additional seats, raising the capacity at EverBank Field to 67,932. The 2018 campaign will be the first full season since 2005 that all of the Jaguars' seats will be open.

--Field Level Media

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