Evans: ‘Noble’ for Manziel to open up, seek help

• Jenna Laine, ESPN Personnel WriterAug 9, 2023, 02:14 PM ET Close Jenna Laine covers the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for ESPN. She started covering the Bucs for ESPN in 2016, but she has covered the team because 2009. Follow Jenna on Twitter: @JennaLaineESPN.

TAMPA, Fla.– Tampa Bay Buccaneers pass receiver Mike Evans said Wednesday that although he understood Johnny Manziel had been resolving his mental health, he hadn’t understood the degree of his former Texas A&M colleague’s struggles.In Netflix’s”

Untold: Johnny Football,” Manziel, the 2012 Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, revealed that he had attempted to end his own life after going on a “$5 million bender.”

Evans told ESPN that he praises Manziel for opening up about his experiences in his documentary.

“I knew he was in an extremely dark place; I didn’t understand about that,” Evans stated of the former Cleveland Browns quarterback. “I care about him, however, you know, I didn’t know about his suicide effort. That was news.”

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In the documentary, Manziel said that after burning bridges with previous coaches, colleagues, buddies and relative, having actually lost endorsements, and declining help for his substance abuse concerns, he planned to invest all of his money and take his own life.

“I had planned to do everything that I wished to do at that point in my life,” Manziel stated in the documentary. “Spend as much money as I possibly might and after that my plan was to take my life. Months prior, I went and bought a gun I understood I was going to utilize. I wanted to get as bad as humanly possible to where it made good sense and it made it seem like an excuse and an out for me.”

Rather, Manziel said, “the weapon simply clicked on me.”

Manziel also opened up about coping with bipolar disorder, for which he was self-medicating to cope after being diagnosed in 2017.

“I thought it was extremely honorable of him to do what he did, ’cause it takes heart to, like, confess a lot of that stuff,” said Evans, including that “there’s nothing wrong” with looking for help.Evans said he learnt about whatever else Manziel revealed in the documentary. He viewed it Tuesday night when it came out, and he appears in it while standing beside Manziel throughout the Texas A&M Hall of Fame inductions at Kyle Field last year.The 2 correspond on and off.”I thought it was a great documentary, “Evans informed ESPN.

“I mean, there’s a great deal of things that I knew about, questions responded to for a lot of people.”Evans said Manziel had actually entered uncharted waters as a college freshman

, suddenly thrust into the national spotlight after winning the Heisman at age 20. Celebrities were shouting to fulfill him and to celebration with him, and his off-field escapades, including altercations with the law, were documented at every turn on social media.Manziel admitted to taking part in self-sabotage due to the fact that of his growing misery with football when he got to the NFL.

“People know– I indicate, he’s a super-talented guy,”Evans informed ESPN.”I indicate, undoubtedly his time, it reoccured– gone real quick– which’s hard for individuals to deal with,”Evans told ESPN. “Specifically, he’s like the very first of his kind– a rock star [college] quarterback who’s hanging with all celebs. Like, that’s like the first of his kind, so he remained in a tough spot early on. “