The freight train that’s been rolling into town for what seems like forever finally arrived at the station on Friday with the release of quarterback Johnny Manziel.

Indeed, even though this was hardly a surprise, it’s still a seminal moment in the history of the expansion-era Browns – or even the Browns from the old days, too – because they are finally rid of their most obnoxious and controversial player ever, and also arguably the biggest bust in NFL Draft history. A No. 22 overall pick in 2014, he lasted just two seasons. The Browns were lighting candles at church in hopes they could get somebody to give them a seventh-round choice for Manziel in a trade, but no one would be that foolish. The Browns couldn’t even fetch a couple of old towels for him.

Sometimes, first-rounders don’t make it at all, but there has never been one who has fallen further, faster than Johnny Manziel. It couldn’t have duplicated this even if he had taken a flying leap off the top of the Terminal Tower, and there are plenty of Browns fans who would have been all too glad to give him a big push to get him started.

But all that is history – a history that explains in no small way why the Browns are where they’re at right now, and why Ray Farmer, the general manager who drafted Manziel, is out of work. Owner Jimmy Haslam is many times fingered as the man who really pulled the trigger to snare Manziel, and while that may – or may not – be true, when you consider the three other first-round picks Farmer badly botched in the last two drafts, doesn’t it make much more sense that he was the one who is responsible for Manziel?

I think so.

Manziel released a statement, or someone representing him released a statement, after Friday’s move. It quotes him as saying: “I’d like to thank the Browns for the opportunity they gave me nearly two years ago. We all hoped that we were building what could be a championship team for Cleveland. I will always remember the support I received from the organization, my teammates and especially the fans.”

There is absolutely no chance that Manziel said that, and if he did somehow say it, there’s even less chance that he meant it – any of it, really.

Moreover, that statement is also noteworthy, for it is the biggest pile of baloney ever uttered by an NFL player. So it’s good to know that Johnny went out in one final blaze of glory.

He was a cancer on this team, and the Browns, even with all the departures since free agency began on Wednesday, are so much better off without Manziel and all the problems on and off the field he brought.

Now that that’s over, the Browns have to concentrate on learning from the Manziel disaster and making sure that the great decisions far outnumber the bad ones going forward.