Content warning: This story addresses suicide and other mental health issues. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide or is in emotional distress, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988 or at 988lifeline.org.
This is an interesting time for a Johnny Manziel documentary. Not that his captivating story as “Johnny Football” from college and the NFL isn’t worth remembering.
It’s because there’s still so much Manziel, now 30, is trying to figure out with life.
There’s often a neat ending to documentaries, with the subject looking back with a better perspective and moving on to the next phase of life. The parts of Manziel’s life in Netflix’s “Untold: Johnny Football,” however, reveal just how dark the times were that Manziel endured after his NFL career ended with the Cleveland Browns.
He reveals he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He attempted suicide after the Browns cut him in 2016. He used OxyContin and cocaine and dropped 40 pounds in about nine months that same year — and he refused to seek treatment. He was accused of domestic violence against his then-girlfriend in January 2016 but reached an agreement with prosecutors and charges were eventually dismissed.
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Johnny Manziel reveals 2016 suicide attempt in documentary
Two agents fired him as a client. His family was out of answers.
It was a dramatic fall for Manziel, who just four years earlier became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy.
“Untold: Johnny Football” debuts Tuesday, recalling the wild ride that was Manziel’s college career at Texas A&M, his brief NFL stint with the Browns and the aftermath filled with drugs, controversy and a young professional athlete trying to find his way. It leaves the viewer wondering what’s next for Manziel, given so much has been shared about his time in college and the NFL, as well as the “frat boy” mentality that led to his demise.
Johnny Manziel started just eight NFL games, going 2-6. (Joe Robbins via Associated Press)
Manziel was a first-round draft pick of the Browns in 2014, but he admittedly partied way too much to maintain a football career and simply wasn’t having fun as a pro. He said he isolated himself from family and friends in 2015 and 2016, when he was at his lowest, but since has cut out the negative influences. The people who were around just to hang with “Johnny Football” aren’t around anymore.
It’s the kind of support Manziel needs as he figures out the next phase of life.
“I’ve got people around me now in my life who genuinely care, who genuinely give me the shirt off their backs and would do just about anything for me,” Manziel told The Athletic. “I’ve surrounded myself with better people, and I’m living a much better life now. It wasn’t a journey that happened overnight. It definitely took a lot of time with a lot of hardship. But definitely, a lot more stable and happy now.”
Manziel believes things just came to him too fast. He went from a starting quarterback in the SEC as a freshman in 2012 to winning the Heisman to starting in the NFL all in a span of two years.
There was a lot of temptation for a 19-year-old who was suddenly living a celebrity’s lifestyle. He succumbed to those temptations, namely the party life. Things only got worse with more fame, and by the time he was in the NFL, he lacked the work ethic or mindset to stay in the league.
It was the kind of mindset that led him to think it was a good idea to head to Las Vegas to party the day before a game — when he was supposed to be in Cleveland the next morning to get treatment for a concussion.
“I didn’t make every right decision, but at that time, I think I was still very much trying to figure out life and figure out how the world really works,” Manziel said. “You may have an idea of how it is at 19 or 20, but it’s very far from reality in the way that life actually works.”
Some of those decisions aren’t frowned upon as much as they were a decade ago. For example, name, image and likeness deals have made it possible for college athletes to be paid. Ten years ago, the NCAA sought to punish Manziel for signing autographs, and he was suspended for the first half of the 2013 season opener.
“I think my story and my time being a college athlete definitely sparked a little bit of talk to be able to get to where we are today,” Manziel said. “I was one example, but there are plenty of college athletes every single year who bring in immense value, immense coverage, immense eyes and money to the sport. It is nice now to be able to see kids, for the most part, getting what they’re worth, even if it is at a young age.”
Money wasn’t the only issue Manziel had at Texas A&M. His partying was synonymous with his time as an Aggie. It almost cost him a spot in the first round of the NFL Draft. A drinking session the night before his pre-draft workout with the Browns left him with no wide receivers as they were unable to shake off their hangovers.
Yet the Browns still drafted him in the first round — which even Manziel couldn’t believe.
“I would have said there was probably a handful (of workouts) that went better than that one,” Manziel said. “And then you end up getting drafted to that team. It definitely was a little bit of a surprise.”
Footage from those years and interviews with friends and family from that time fill in what it was like to know Manziel. And even they wondered what the future held.
Since then, Manziel has reconciled with his family. His father, Paul, says they are “blessed” to still have him. His sister, Meri Malechek, said in the film Manziel is “not in a place mentally to go out and do something right now.”
Manziel doesn’t want to live the rest of his life as “Johnny Football.” He views the film as an opportunity to close that era while he figures out what’s next in life.
“Even though ‘Johnny Football’ and that whole aspect will probably live on for a long time for me … I kind of want to just let that be done and let that be history and tell a good story,” Manziel said. “Kind of relish and enjoy the past of what it was for the football side. Now, it is nice to be able to be 30 and have time and opportunity to be able to continue on with the next chapter of life.
“This is just me kind of closing the door on one chapter and kind of opening up another, whatever that may be.”
He played in the CFL with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Montreal Alouettes in 2018. He then signed with the now-defunct Alliance of American Football in 2019 and played in 2021 and 2022 with the Zappers of Fan Controlled Football, the indoor league, but did so more out of boredom and less to re-establish himself as a star quarterback.
Johnny Manziel is ready to reconnect with Texas A&M on a deeper level. (Thomas Shea / USA Today)
Manziel’s immediate plans are to hang out in Texas, work out and prepare to watch Texas A&M play in person more this season. He wants to be more involved with the school, which inducted him into its Hall of Fame last September, as he figures out what’s next in life.
Football is behind him now, he said, aside from becoming more of a “staple” around the Aggies. He is looking to spend more time with family and friends while also getting on the golf course “four or five days a week.”
“Normal life for me is usually get a workout in, go hit the golf course throughout the day, go to dinner with the boys and kind of a little bit on repeat again,” he said. “It’s nice to have the free time and not have as many things on the schedule and on the plate.”
(Photo by Casey Sykes / Fan Controlled Football / Getty Images)
