Yup, Johnny Manziel Still Plays Football, But Not For The NFL
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
*Content warning: discussions of domestic violence and suicide.*
Back in the early 2010s, Johnny Manziel was a huge deal in football. He was a Heisman trophy-winner and an early pick in the NFL draft. By all predictions, the man with the nickname “Johnny Football” was going to do big things in the world of professional football.
But there was a lot going on in Johnny’s personal life—he was accused of domestic violence (the charges were later dropped) and tried to take his own life at one point. His NFL career floundered and fizzled out. Now, the Netflix documentary Untold: Johnny Football tells the story of what actually went on behind the scenes, and Johnny gets the chance to tell his own story on his own terms.
There's a *lot* going on here, so it’s understandable to have some big questions about the sports legend: Does Johnny Manziel still play football? And where is he now? Here’s what you need to know.
He went to Texas A&M.
Johnny grew up in Kerrsville, Texas, and played quarterback on his Tivy High School football team. After graduating in 2011, he was recruited to continue his football career at Oregon, Iowa State, Rice University and Stanford, but picked Texas A&M instead, per his college bio. He majored in sports management.
At A&M, he quickly established himself as a big name in the sports. While Johnny was redshirted his first year, he got his big break the next year, which was considered his "freshman" year. He completed 295 of his 434 passes for 3,706 yards and 26 touchdowns while throwing only nine interceptions, according to his college bio.
He also broke the SEC record with 5,116 yards of total offense that year.
He was the first freshman to win a Heisman.
Johnny’s freshman year in the college football world was so impressive that he won the prestigious Heisman Trophy, making him the first freshman ever to get the award, according to his college bio. He was only 19 at the time.
Insider reported that Johnny helped A&M win an 11-2 record during that first year playing, "breaking record after record earning the moniker 'Johnny Football' as the season progressed." The team won the Cotton Bowl that year.
He was drafted to the NFL in 2014.
Johnny was the 22nd overall draft pick in 2014. At the time, he was drafted to the Cleveland Browns. Bleacher Report noted that he was a “polarizing” pick. While he was talented, the outlet explained that Johnny had a lot of “off-field concerns.”
How long was he in the NFL?
Johnny was only in the NFL for two seasons. He struggled with his rapid rise to fame and the massive expectations placed on his shoulders and began to "self-sabotage" as a way to cope. While still playing in the NFL, Johnny says he started taking cocaine and OxyContin, and spent nearly $5 million during a bender, Insider reports. He also was diagnosed with bipolar disorder but ignored the diagnosis.
"I wanted it to get as bad as humanly possible to where it made sense, and it made it seem like an excuse and an out for me," Johnny explains in the doc.
In March of 2016, as his struggles continued, the Browns, Johnny's agent, and his management team dropped him, per Sports Illustrated.
In April of that year, he was accused of domestic violence by his former girlfriend, Colleen Crowley, and indicted on a misdemeanor assault charge, per Bleacher Report. Crowley said in a sworn statement that Johnny attacked her in January 2016, but he denied hitting her.
"When we got to the valet, I was crying and begged the valet, 'Please don't let him take me. I'm scared for my life," she wrote. "The valet replied, 'I don't know what to do,' and allowed Manziel to literally throw me in the front passenger seat of his car."
In 2017, the charges against Johnny were dismissed after he took an anger management course, Bleacher Report says.
He tried to take his own life.
Johnny said in the documentary that he was engaging in “direct self-sabotage” and bought a gun with the intent of taking his own life. He said that he tried to shoot himself but his gun misfired. “Still, to this day, I don't know what happened,” he said.
Does he still play football?
Yes, Johnny still plays football, but not in the NFL. He’s a quarterback for the Zappers of Fan Controlled Football, which is an indoor football league where fans vote on play calls and other events in the game.
"I still get a lot of questions regarding football and regarding a past career, and I want to put the whole Johnny Football thing to rest," Johnny told Insider. "Even though it'll never quite fully go away, at least for the majority of people in my interactions in daily life, I want to be able to put this story out there and just let it be what it is."
For more details on Johnny's football career and departure from the NFL, you can check out Untold: Johnny Football, streaming now on Netflix.
You Might Also Like
