Content warning: The story discusses suicidal feelings and self-harm.
Johnny Manziel’s rapid rise to greatness captivated college football fans during the 2012 season. He was one of the mobile quarterbacks who helped change the way the game is played at the college and professional levels and became the first freshman to ever win the Heisman Trophy.
But nearly 11 years after he first began his dominance at Kyle Field, college football fans are left to wonder where he is now.
Manziel’s college career was a brief, sparkling flash in the pan, but he never took off as a professional. He was a first-round pick but struggled immensely in two seasons with the Browns before being unceremoniously dumped.
Manziel has been through a lot since then, bouncing to three different football leagues — two of which are now defunct — as he dealt with the affect effects of being released by the Browns. Netflix’s “Untold: Johnny Football” will help to shine a light on some of what he has been through.
BENDER: Netflix revisits Johnny Manziel’s rise and fall with style
But what happened to Johnny Manziel? Here’s what to know about the rise and fall of one of college football’s brightest stars.
Johnny Manziel college career
Manziel enjoyed an excellent — albeit brief — college career at Texas A&M. He became the team’s starting quarterback in 2012, replacing Ryan Tannehill after he left the team and became the No. 8 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.
Manziel became an overnight sensation. He showed off his playmaking ability by throwing on the run and scrambling like a madman to befuddle opposing defenses. He broke Archie Manning’s record for most total offense in a single game when he racked up a whopping 557 total yards against Arkansas. He followed that up by breaking his own record two weeks later.
His total yardage in that contest? It was 576 yards
Manziel capped an excellent season with a win over Alabama. He had the Aggies firing out of the gates and out to an early 20-0 lead and ultimately guided them to a 29-24 victory. He also produced one of his best college highlights during that contest when he found Ryan Swope in the end-zone for a 10-yard score.
MORE: Revisiting Johnny Manziel’s legendary 2012 performance against Alabama
Overall, Manziel threw for 3,796 yards during the 2012 season with 26 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also added 1,410 yards and a whopping 21 touchdowns on the ground to stake his claim to the 2021 Heisman Trophy. He was the first freshman to ever win the prestigious award.
Manziel followed up his Heisman-winning season by enduring some off-the-field issues. Notably, his parents expressed concern about their son’s ability to process his stardom off the field as his “Johnny Football” persona became larger than life.
Manziel allegedly left the Manning Passing Academy after oversleeping and proceeded to make headlines with his partying. At one point, he was even kicked out of a frat party at Texas A&M.
Even despite his off-the-field concerns, Manziel still performed well on the field. He improved his accuracy and continued to be a dual-threat quarterback as a sophomore, throwing for 4,114 yards, 37 touchdowns and 13 interceptions while running for 759 yards and nine touchdowns. However, Texas A&M only went 9-4 despite entering the season as the No. 6-ranked team in the country, so it was viewed as a disappointing campaign.
Still, Manziel’s dynamic playmaking ability put him on the radar for NFL teams as a top quarterback prospect, so he declared for the 2014 NFL Draft as a result. He was expected to be a first-round pick; the only question was about just how high he might be selected.
MORE: How partying, scandals derailed Johnny Manziel’s career
Johnny Manziel NFL draft
Manziel entered the 2014 NFL Draft expected to be a first-round pick, and he was in the running to be the first quarterback off the board. Blake Bortles, Teddy Bridgewater and Derek Carr were his main competition for that distinction, but it was expected that Manziel would be selected in the first 32 picks, and perhaps on the higher end of the first round.
It ended up being Bortles who came off the board first, as the Jaguars surprisingly made him the No. 3 overall pick in the draft. From there, Manziel had a long wait. His teammate Mike Evans went No. 7 overall to Tampa Bay, which was thought to be a potential landing spot for him.
So too was the Browns’ selection at No. 8. The team was armed with two first-round picks, however, and opted to select Oklahoma State cornerback Justin Gilbert with its top selection. That meant Manziel’s slide would continue.
Then came Dallas’ pick at No. 16 overall. It was presumed that owner Jerry Jones was a fan of Johnny Football, and the legend became that he wanted to select the quarterback only to be denied by his son.
The elder Jones has denied that recounting of events over the years. That said, he was open that the team came “close” to selecting Manziel and that he hoped the team wouldn’t regret passing on him.
“That didn’t happen,” Jones said when asked about his son “snatching” the draft card with Manziel’s name on it out of his hands, per the Dallas Morning News. “We’re well aware that there are a lot of people looking at us in that room. You’d think we could act a little more organized than that.
“Figuratively speaking, it got close to that. It certainly was a big debate going on at no place else other than my mind. … Because ultimately that was the bottom line — being behind (Tony) Romo for those years and whether or not that was the best way to use that pick.”
The Cowboys ended up selecting guard Zack Martin, who has been a perennial All-Pro. As a result, Manziel continued to fall before the Browns ended up on the board once again at No. 22 overall.
At this point, the team decided to take Manziel. That was thanks, in part, to a text he sent to then-offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, as the coach detailed in a radio interview, per Cleveland.com.
We’re sitting there and they keep showing Johnny on T.V. and Johnny and I are texting and he shoots me a text and he says, ‘I wish you guys would come get me. Hurry up and draft me because I want to be there. I want to wreck this league together.’…When I got that text, I forwarded it to [owner Jimmy Haslam] and to [head coach Mike Pettine]…I’m like ‘this guy wants to be here. He wants to be part of it.’ As soon as that happened, Mr. Haslam said, ‘pull the trigger. We’re trading up to go get this guy.’
So, the bold move paid off for Manziel. He was given a chance to end Cleveland’s streak of bad luck at the quarterback position and turn his “Johnny Football” brand into a success at the NFL level.
MORE: Trailer, release date, more to know about ‘Untold: Johnny Football’
Johnny Manziel NFL career
Hopes were high that Manziel could provide Cleveland with the spark it needed to snap its streak of poor performance at the quarterback position. He couldn’t deliver on his potential.
Manziel spent most of his first NFL season sitting behind Brian Hoyer, who led the Browns to a respectable 7-6 record in 13 starts. But in Week 15, the team sought a spark to get into the postseason and inserted Manziel into the lineup.
The results were disastrous.
Manziel didn’t look ready for the NFL limelight at all as the Browns battled the Bengals. Cleveland was only able to run 42 offensive plays, as Manziel tossed two interceptions, suffered three sacks and threw for just 80 yards on 18 pass attempts. Cleveland lost the contest 30-0.
That set the tone for Manziel’s tenure with the Browns. He struggled during the rest of his two years in Cleveland, posting a record of 2-6, completing 57 percent of his passes and throwing just seven touchdowns to seven interceptions.
In March 2016, the Browns released Manziel.
Johnny Manziel stats
Below is a look at Manziel’s stats from his two-year NFL career with the Browns.
| Year | Record | Comp. % | Passing yards | Pass TDs | INTs | Rating | Rushing yards | Rush TDs |
| 2014 | 0-2 | 51.4 | 175 | 0 | 2 | 42.0 | 29 | 1 |
| 2015 | 2-4 | 57.8 | 1,500 | 7 | 5 | 79.4 | 230 | 0 |
| Totals | 2-6 | 57.0 | 1,675 | 7 | 7 | 74.4 | 259 | 1 |
Johnny Manziel opens up about suicide attempt
Manziel’s release from the Browns led the quarterback to a dark place, as he revealed in Netflix’s documentary that he was using OxyContin and cocaine daily. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder but refused to be treated at a rehab, instead beginning a cycle of self-sabotage.
Eventually, Manziel went on a “$5 million bender” and attempted suicide.
“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 documentary, per ESPN. “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.”
Manziel further detailed that he had purchased a gun with which to carry out his suicide. But when he pulled the trigger, it malfunctioned.
“Still to this day, don’t know what happened. But the gun just clicked on me,” he said.
Eventually, he reconnected with his family, with whom his relationship had grown fraught as he refused treatment for his addiction and mental illness.
Note: If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 in the United States. More information is available here.
Does Johnny Manziel still play football?
Manziel did still play football as of 2022. The 30-year-old was a quarterback for the Zappers of Fan Controlled Football (FCF), a start-up spring league that tries to let fans help influence what plays are called on the field.
However, the FCF canceled its 2023 season as it shifts its sport of focus to basketball. As such, it appears that Manziel’s playing career may be over, given his comments to TMZ in 2019.
“I think football is a little bit behind me,” he said. “I’m just trying to do other things in life that make me happy. That’s it… There’s more to life than just ball.”
In his first season with the Zappers, Manziel completed 14 of 27 passes for 133 yards and a touchdown while also running for 104 yards and two scores. In his second season, he completed 10 of 23 passes for 112 yards and two scores while running for just 19 yards nd a touchdown.
Manziel has also played in the CFL for the Montreal Alouettes and Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2018 and played two games for the Memphis Express in the now-defunct Alliance of American Football (AAF) in 2019.
Where is Johnny Manziel now?
Manziel’s next venture is a bar in his old stomping grounds of College Station, Texas. He is set to co-own Johnny Manziel’s Money Bar alongside three other individuals, J.D. Ybanez, Josh Reagan and Cote Bona.
“It’s funny because we had a few other names picked out [for our bar] and then obviously people called him ‘Money Manziel’ for his famous after-touchdown [celebration],” Ybanez told The Eagle. “I just thought it was a really cool name and he loved it and the theme itself was really cool. It works.”
Manziel hasn’t yet directly explained his involvement with the business, but it is expected to open by Sept. 2 when Texas A&M hosts New Mexico State in an all-Aggies showdown to open the 2023 college football season.
That will mark just under 11 years since Manziel’s first career game, a 20-17 loss to Jeff Driskel’s Florida Gators.