Joe Haden Is Perfect Example for Manziel, Gilbert to Follow to Stardom

The last thing any front office wants to have is more to worry about than the normal offseason issues.

Quarterback Johnny Manziel has provided that. Will he be the future of the team and can it curb his poor work ethic to get him there? Even rookie Justin Gilbert had issues that kept him off the field throughout the season.

The answer to both of these huge issues is sitting about 30 feet away in the locker room, and his name is Joe Haden.

To truly respect where Haden is now, we have to remember where he once was. Back in 2011 and 2012, he was a guy with all the talent in the world but almost as many question marks.

He was the seventh overall pick in the final year of the old collective bargaining agreement, so his big payday came right out of the gate. He signed a five-year rookie deal worth $50 million ($26 million guaranteed).

That is huge money for a 21-year-old. Haden did what most would do after coming into that kind of cash: He celebrated. And then he celebrated some more.

In fact, if you went out on the town in Cleveland during Haden’s first two seasons, then you probably ran into him somewhere.

He could be seen in VIP at just about every nightclub, courtside at every Cavs game and oftentimes was even dressed up like his favorite players. Everyone loved it because, well, he was Cleveland’s guy. The city had not seen a football star like this in quite some time and his play seemed to be backing up the partying.

No harm, no foul.

That was until he tested positive for Adderall and was suspended for the first four games of the 2012 season. All of a sudden, all of that partying wasn’t portrayed in such an innocent light.

Even those who gave him the benefit of the doubt had to shake their heads when Pro Football Talk reported that Haden tested positive for Adderall as a “pick-me-up” in Las Vegas.

Overnight, Haden was not the likeable kid who loved being out in Cleveland anymore. Now he was the underachieving kid who was not taking his professional career seriously enough. He had Pro Bowl talent, but where were the accolades? Where were the game-changing plays?

It’s amazing how quickly a narrative can change. It is even more amazing how quickly it can change back.

At the moment, Haden is widely regarded as one of the best corners in the game and has a five-year, $68 million contract extension ($45 million guaranteed). He was also just named to his second consecutive Pro Bowl, but this time he is a captain.

Not only has Haden risen to a leadership role on his own team, but he is a figurehead for the entire league. This is what learning from your mistakes can do for you.

"That was rock bottom for me," Haden told Mary Kay Cabot of The Cleveland Plain Dealer in late December. "You just feel like you are getting beat down and you don't want that to happen. You feel like you embarrass your team, yourself, your family and when that happened to me I knew I needed to make a change."

If there is anyone who can understand what Manziel and Gilbert are dealing with, then, it is Haden.

The Browns should look to him as a tutor because Haden himself has already started to lend his advice to the two young men:

"

They have to look in the mirror and want it for themselves. ...You have to show up and do everything the right way. You know it's going to take awhile to get that respect, not respect, but accountability to get people believing in you that you're going to do your thing. It just takes time.

I love Josh, I love Justin, I love Johnny. This is just the growing pains. I just want them to know it's not all bashing. We really do support them. I support the hell out of those dudes.

"

The Browns love them too. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be on the roster. Now that they invested first-round picks in both Manziel and Gilbert, they owe it to themselves to try to fix the situation and not just throw it to the curb.

Cutting ties with either or both of those players might appease fans, but it would mark an epic fail in the 2014 draft.

Jason Miller/Getty Images

It might be hard for front office personnel and a 60-year-old billionaire to understand why these kids do the things they do, but it isn’t for Haden. He went through those same missteps. He went through similar issues. He prevailed and is now one of the faces of the NFL.

Too often, the decision-makers think they can fix everything or fix nothing and make rash decisions based upon those feelings.

The smart move here would be to team Haden up with the young Browns and allow them to see what they can be if they start to focus on what is truly important.

Haden has not stopped going out. He can still be seen courtside at Cavs games or out on the town. The difference is that now when he goes out, he is truly a superstar and not a kid pretending to be one.