Johnny Manziel was once told he will be ‘bigger than LeBron James’ for Cleveland after he was selected by the Browns in the 2014 NFL Draft - and he was out the league by 2016.
Manziel became known as ‘Johnny Football’ as he dominated the college scene following a redshirt 2011 season for Texas A&M. In 2012, Manziel’s popularity surged to remarkable heights as he was named the Heisman Trophy winner, the top individual award in the college game, after 43 total touchdowns.
He was a consensus All-American as the face of college football, and he played one more season for the Aggies in 2013 before entering the 2014 NFL Draft. The Cleveland Browns opted to spend the 22nd overall pick on the quarterback, but his time with the franchise - and in the NFL - was short-lived, despite the hype.
One such fan of the quarterback was outspoken sports personality Skip Bayless. After the Browns selected Manziel with their first round pick, Bayless infamously said: “One day, I’m predicting, Johnny Manziel will become even bigger in the City of Cleveland than his buddy and business partner LeBron James ever was in the City of Cleveland.”
James is a beloved figure in Cleveland after he returned in 2014 and won the 2016 NBA championship for the Cavaliers - the franchise’s sole title win. Meanwhile, Manziel played in just 14 games across two NFL seasons, throwing seven touchdowns and seven interceptions, as well as a rushing score.
Manziel - who would later admit he never put in the work needed to succeed in the professional arena - was released by the Browns in 2016 after he received a four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy. He was known to party hard, with controversies never far away; Manziel was arrested before his iconic 2012 season.
After his rookie campaign, Manziel clashed with a heckler at the AT&T Byron Nelson golf tournament, throwing a water bottle at the fan after he continuously asked for the quarterback’s autograph. He was dropped by the Browns for allegedly lying about partying, only for a video to hit social media.
In 2016, Manziel was dropped by his marketing agency and agent while Nike severed their sponsorship of the quarterback. It marked a sharp fall from grace for the former college football icon - but he did attempt comebacks.
Now in his mid-20s, he signed with both the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian football League in 2018, before joining the now-defunct Memphis Express in the Alliance of American Football a year later. He played in just two games before the league folded, suffering a concussion during his second appearance that knocked him out the game.
His football career remarkably sparked back into life in the form of the Fan Controlled Football League. He was assigned to the Zappers, who won the 2022 championship although Manziel was not the starting quarterback. He appears to have found some level of peace, serving as a player-coach without the pressure of being the face of the FCF League.
Late last year, it was confirmed that Manziel will be the subject of a Netflix documentary chronicling the highs and lows of his remarkable run of fame. Speaking on an episode of golf show Subpar, Manziel said: “I think people are going to see the chaos and the hectic-ness of what life was like during that time at A&M, into the draft.
“It all happened so fast, from overnight celebrity status to the NFL to everything after. I think people will have a better understanding for what it really was, and some things that I struggle with, as a young kid in a different age and the world right now.”
