During the 2010s, Johnny Manziel was a household name. He was constantly in the spotlight and in the headlines (sometimes for his football exploits… other times for his off-field shenanigans). However, Manziel has been out of the NFL since 2015, so what has he been up to in recent years? Let’s break down Manziel’s life and where he is today.
Johnny Manziel’s Ascent to Stardom
Manziel joined the Texas A&M Aggies in 2012 and instantly became a star at the collegiate level. Nicknamed “Johnny Football,” he became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy after totaling 47 touchdowns. He also became the first freshman (and just the fifth NCAA player ever) to throw for more than 3,000 yards and rush for more than 1,000 yards.
As a dual-threat QB with a captivating, devil-may-care play style, Johnny Football was beloved. Unfortunately, Manziel acted with that same reckless abandon off the field, which ultimately doomed his short-lived NFL career.
There were warning signs coming out of Texas A&M. As a redshirt freshman, Manziel was arrested for disorderly conduct and giving false identification, per CNN. During the 2013 season, Manziel’s eligibility was up in the air after he reportedly signed autographs for money. Texas A&M agreed to suspend Manziel for the first half of their season opener.
Manziel was known for his partying, but during the lead-up to the 2014 NFL Draft, he said the right things and acted like those days were in the past.
Manziel only needed one team to believe him, and the Cleveland Browns were that team. They drafted him with the No. 22 pick in the 2014 NFL Draft in hopes that he’d become their franchise quarterback. The Browns were captivated by Manziel’s talents and seemed convinced they could work out the kinks.
Manziel’s Short-Lived, Yet Chaotic NFL Career
After entering the NFL, it didn’t take long for Manziel to attract the wrong kind of attention. He garnered headlines for an obscene hand gesture directed toward the Washington bench during his first preseason game.
#TBT the last time Johnny Manziel played against the Redskins pic.twitter.com/bx5ZnFt2VF
— NFL Retweet (@NFLRT) August 14, 2015
There was some kind of dustup between a Manziel associate and a reportedly intoxicated fan in November of 2014, but Manziel was absolved of any wrongdoing in that. He saw his first extensive pro snaps soon thereafter.
They were underwhelming. Manziel threw zero touchdown passes in Year 1. He completed just over half of his pass attempts and threw for a meager five yards per attempt. In the recent film “Untold: Johnny Football” on Netflix, Manziel admitted that he watched “zero” film in the NFL, which certainly didn’t help his chances of succeeding at the pro level.
Also, Manziel was partying harder than ever. Teammates told reporters that his hard-partying ways caused him to be unprepared, and he would even sometimes be hungover on game days. One anonymous teammate referred to Manziel’s career as a “100 percent joke.” Another summed up his struggles by saying, “Johnny’s his own worst enemy,”
To his credit, Manziel recognized that he had a problem and checked himself into a drug-and-alcohol treatment facility in Pennsylvania near the end of January of 2015. He issued the following statement upon his exit: “I owe private apologies to a lot of people that I disappointed but a very public one to the Browns organization and the fans that I let down. I take full responsibility for my actions, and it’s my intention to work very hard to regain everyone’s trust and respect.”
Manziel kept a comparatively low profile through the 2015 season. He had a couple of moving violations, one of which reportedly involved some kind of domestic issue, but no charges were filed.
Manziel did show some progress on the field in 2015. He got a half dozen starts and won a couple of them. He had a positive touchdown-to-interception ratio and was an asset as a ball carrier as well. He threw for 1,500 yards, seven touchdowns, and five interceptions while rushing for 230 yards.
Compared to the year prior, Manziel’s second season in the pros had been fairly innocuous. Not overwhelmingly positive by any means, but he wasn’t drawing as much negative attention either.
That is, until the final game of the season. After being on his best behavior throughout the campaign, Manziel made several mistakes that ultimately ended his NFL career. After being ruled out for the season finale with a concussion, Manziel decided to enjoy his weekend rather than showing up to the game to support his teammates.
Manziel flew to Las Vegas and partied rather than attending Cleveland’s final game of the 2015 season. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the story blew up when it was reported that Manziel was wearing glasses, a blonde wig, and a fake mustache — while adopting the alias “Billy” — in hopes of avoiding detection. The media had a field day with this story.
Johnny Manziel Billy Vegas T-Shirt – Male L – $19.00 – https://t.co/MHjetBdJvv – #JohnnyManziel #Wow pic.twitter.com/FwJv3Sf14f
— Shopalooza Fanatic (@shopaloozafan) January 31, 2016
Since you just read that paragraph, it’s safe to say his efforts were for naught. While the “Billy Football” saga was humorous, Manziel’s next off-field incident was far more unsettling.
A few weeks later, Manziel allegedly assaulted his ex-girlfriend Colleen Crowley in Dallas, Texas. He reportedly wrestled with her both inside and outside of a car, struck her with an open hand on the ear, and threatened to kill her as well as himself. According to reports, it was only after they arrived at her apartment and she pulled a knife on him that he fled the scene.
“He grabbed me by my hair and threw me back into the car and got back in himself,” Crowley told the police, per News 8. “He hit me with his open hand on my left ear for jumping out of the car. I realized immediately that I could not hear out of that ear, and I still cannot today, two days later.”
The Browns were understandably fed up with Manziel’s erratic behavior (chronicled brilliantly here by CNN) and the negative headlines it drew. They severed ties with him just over a month later.
Manziel ultimately faced misdemeanor assault charges and became the subject of a no-contact restraining order protecting Crowley. Not long after, to the surprise of nobody, Manziel was back to his hard-partying ways, popping up at Coachella and a few other popular social events. In recent interviews, Manziel has admitted that he was drinking, doing cocaine, and taking Oxycontin at that time, causing him to lose 40 pounds.
Johnny Manziel is out at Coachella looking skinny.https://t.co/MpTCqbUbd5 pic.twitter.com/yfnW7wo6h0
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) April 18, 2016
Manziel would never take another snap in the NFL. However, after stepping away from football for several years, he would try to catch on in several other pro leagues.
In 2018, he signed with the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League, but his performance was largely unspectacular.
The Alouettes terminated Manziel’s contract at the end of the season. According to USA Today, Manziel failed to fulfill contractual agreements and, as a result, was barred from the league altogether.
The league declined to say what specific requirement Manziel failed to satisfy, but one can glean some pretty compelling insight from this particular sentence:
“The CFL had declined to make public those conditions, citing Canadian privacy laws, but Manziel told USA TODAY Sports that they included weekly therapy appointments, mandatory doctor visits, and monthly Lithium tests.”
Manziel had a cup of coffee with two other short-lived pro leagues, the Alliance of American Football and the Fan Controlled Football, and that seemingly put a bow on his pro career.
What’s Manziel Doing Now?
Determined to turn his life around, Manziel recently got sober. He has opened up about his past mistakes, participating in the aforementioned Netflix documentary and doing some candid interviews.
Shortly after Manziel got cut by the Browns, he was diagnosed as bipolar. He recently admitted that he was suicidal at that time, which explains why his partying and substance use were out of control.
“I had planned to do everything I wanted to do at that point in my life, spend as much money as I possibly could, and then my plan was to take my life,” Manziel said in the Netflix documentary. “I wanted 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.”
At one point, Manziel attempted to end his own life, but fortunately, he was spared.
“Still to this day, don’t know what happened. But the gun just clicked on me,” he said in the documentary.
These days, Manziel spends a lot of time with his family, goes golfing, and watches football on the weekends rather than playing it. He’s also an uncle now, spending as much time as possible with his two nieces.
Given everything that he’s been through and the fact that he entered the limelight at such a young age, it’s easy to forget that Manziel is still just 31 years old and has the rest of his life ahead of him. It certainly sounds like his darkest days are behind him and he’s on the right path.