AFC North Notes: Manziel, Bengals, Atkins

In an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” former Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel opened up about his history of substance abuse and disclosed that he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

I was self medicating with alcohol because that’s what I thought was making me happy to help me get out of that depression to a point where I felt like I had some sense of happiness,” Manziel said (transcript via Joey Morona of Cleveland.com). “But at the end of the day, when you wake up the next day after a night like that or after going on a trip like that, and you wake up the next day and that’s all gone. And that liquid courage or that liquid sense of euphoria that’s over you that’s all gone and you’re left staring at the ceiling by yourself and you’re back in that depression and back in that hole, that dark hole of sitting in a room by yourself and being super depressed again thinking about all the mistakes you made in your life. Where did that get me? Where did that get me except out of the NFL? Where did it get me? Disgraced.”

Manziel remains focused on mounting an NFL comeback, but he’ll have to get on a football field somewhere before he can put himself on the radar for teams. At last check, Manziel’s agent was in a standoff with the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats as they try to negotiate a contract.

Here’s more from the AFC North:

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