Manziel’s Dad Fears Son ‘Won’t Live to See His 24th Birthday’

Johnny Manziel’s father believes his son won’t live to see 24 unless he gets help quickly.

The statement comes in the wake of domestic abuse allegations from an ex-girlfriend, a helicopter dispatched to find Manziel in Fort Worth, the quarterback’s agent dumping him, and the Browns signaling an end to the first-round pick’s tenure in Cleveland.

Manziel the elder tells the Dallas Morning News that twice in the last week he attempted to admit his son to rehabilitation. But the former Heisman Trophy-winner, who spent more than two months in rehab after a series of incidents during his rookie season, balked. Paul Manziel expressed anger that Carrollton Springs Hospital allowed his son to walk after he explained that the QB harbored suicidal thoughts.

“I truly believe if they can’t get him help,” Paul Manziel admitted to the Dallas Morning News, “he won’t live to see his 24th birthday.”

Manziel’s ex-girlfriend claims that he struck her, smashed her phone, threatened to kill himself, and threatened to kill her last weekend in a series of incidents that allegedly took place in Dallas and Fort Worth. She admits he took her keys because he believed her too intoxicated to drive and that she rushed him with a knife at her apartment. Police ultimately found her allegations “vague” and declined to press charges.