The Ted Wells investigation into the bullying of Jonathan Martin while he was a member of the Dolphins uncovered more than just disturbing behavior by Martin’s teammates — it revealed his deep insecurities dating back to high school.
Martin was arrested Friday after he posted an unsettling photo on Instagram that led to the temporary closing of Harvard-Westlake High School in Studio City, Calif., where Martin attended.
“Everywhere I go, I get punked. I have a disagreeable personality, people are always annoyed by me. And I don’t know how to stop it. I don’t. High school still and will forever haunt me.”
Later that same day, Martin told his mother he was always perceived as “soft” because he wasn’t confrontational.
“I did it at Stanford, and didn’t gain anyone’s respect until I became a star,” he wrote. “Same thing in high school. I had no respect til [sic] I became a prospect.”
As for Mayfield’s off-field record, well, that’s also a bit too similar to Manziel’s for some’s liking. But Mayfield is assuring NFL teams he’s built to succeed in the NFL and not flame out to a spring league in a few years with more headlines on TMZ than ESPN.
“Whoever I’m playing for I’m going to be passionate about it,” Mayfield said Monday after collecting the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award (via Star-Telegram.com). “I’m going to strive to be the face of the franchise so you’ve got to be the guy on and off the field that people want to admire and see lead their team.”
Before leading Oklahoma to the College Football Playoff, Mayfield was arrested in Arkansas for public intoxication, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest in February 2017.
That’s when his public perception went from a competitive, undersized QB with a Russell Wilson-type skill set, to the second coming of Johnny Football.
“I knew that after I got arrested it was going to happen,” Mayfield said of the Manziel comparisons. “But you look at my track record before and after that, I’ve never had a run-in with the law. Never gone out of my way and done dumb things. A lot of things bothered me with that. I knew exactly who I was.