“Primetime” thinks Johnny Manziel’s girlfriend needs to be put under the spotlight.

Speaking with Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders seemed to attribute the bulk of Manziel’s problems to his relationship with his girlfriend, Colleen Crowley.

“Johnny’s in love,” Sanders told cleveland.com at an NFL Network media availability on Thursday. “And Johnny’s in love with something that’s crippling him right now. I understand it. And it upsets me that grownups don’t understand it. Because he feels as though this game don’t love him, the people in this game don’t love him, so the only thing that he associates with love is that thing that’s really inflicting a lot of pain on him and that’s his girlfriend.”

According to reports, Manziel and Crowley broke up in December. However, news surfaced on Thursday that the two got in another argument on Saturday morning in Texas, and that the Cleveland Browns quarterback threatened to kill Crowley and himself.

The report from Fort Worth police said Crowley told the authorities that Manziel struck her several times, but Manziel denied those accusations.

“It’s hard to be a young kid,” Sanders said. “You have to go through these trials and tribulations to find yourself and that’s what he doing right now. He’s trying to find himself. And I empathize with him. Johnny’s girlfriend. That’s his issue.”

Sanders later backtracked, but not very much.

“I’m not saying she is the problem. I’m saying their relationship is inflammatory,” he said. “His last two issues have been with her. Take away that and what you got?”

With all due respect to that last quote from Sanders, Manziel has had plenty of issues that have nothing to do with a girlfriend.

On Friday morning, Manziel’s agent Erik Burkhardt ended business relations with Manziel, who is expected to be released by the Browns on March 9.