Johnny Manziel will continue to play football. According to ESPN, the former Cleveland Browns quarterback is returning to the professional league known as Fan Controlled Football for the second season. The league, which plays on a 7-on-7 format in an Atlanta indoor facility, is set to kick off the new season on April 16, which is the same day that another professional football league, the USFL, returns to action.
Manziel told ESPN that his formal football career “in my eyes is over.” But when it comes to the FCF, it’s something “I wanted to do for fun.” According to the FCF’s official website, the league raised $40 million, leading to an expansion of eight teams. Some of the team owners in FCF include Jamal Anderson, Steve Aoki, Cynthia Frelund, and Tiki and Ronde Barber.
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“This is a way to go out and compete and have fun on a way smaller scale,” Manziel told ESPN. “I don’t have the drive to play football at a high level anymore. I don’t have a drive to be the best football player anymore that I used to have in my life, and I’m OK with that. I’ve come to terms with what my football career was, and what it is, and now I’m trying to figure out how I can stay entangled in the game, but from a different position.
“[FCF] is not trying to build this on my back and make me be the main focus point. I feel like I’m simply there to help bring a little bit of magic and a little bit of entertainment but on a way different scale than the past.” Manziel, 29, was selected in the first round by the Cleveland Browns in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft after having a successful career at Texas A&M. He only played in 15 career NFL games in two seasons and completed 57% of the passes for 1,657 yards seven touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Manziel retired to football in 2018 to play for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. In 2019, Manziel signed with the Memphis Express of the Alliance of American Football. “I had an ample amount of opportunities to put my career on a different path, and for whatever reason, it was, whether it was me being young or just not seeing life through the right lens at that point in time, I squandered a good opportunity,” Manziel said. “The more I look back on my life and continue to reflect and try to bury some things and put some things in the past, that’s one thing that I decided to do, was to let [football] go and let that be what it is.” Last year, Manziel played for the Zappers of the FCF and scored three total touchdowns.
