It appears Johnny Manziel has left his football days behind.
“I would probably characterize it in the past,” Manziel told the Lubbock Avalanche Journal when asked about his football career. “I have finally reached a point where I try to achieve happiness in life, not happiness on the soccer field.
“I know that a lot of people probably want me to come back and play and give him another chance, but I don’t know what it means to be a person and to find out what life is like as a young adult – to try to make it and figuring it out – if I’ve ever been in a better place than now. I can honestly say that I am happy and do the right things to put a smile on my face every day and that means more than going out and grind on a soccer field. “
The 27-year-old last played with Memphis Express in the Alliance of American Football last spring before the league shut down. His brief stay at AAF came after CFL instructed Montreal Alouettes to release Manziel after he violated one of the conditions the league imposed on him when he signed in 2018.
As a college star at Texas A&M, Manziel was the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy in 2012. In the 2014 NFL Draft he was ranked 22nd overall by the Cleveland Browns. His career with the Browns would only last two seasons before the team cut him back. He joined the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2018 and was later sold to the Alouettes.
“During the time I was drafted, I didn’t invest the time it took to be a great player and I don’t think my heart was in it,” Manziel told the newspaper. “And I think it was the same when I returned to Canada. I really believed and really thought it was what I wanted to do and my heart wasn’t there and it worked the way it was. “
Manziel was 2-6 as a starter at Alouettes during the 2018 season and completed 106 of 165 passes (64.2 percent) for 1,290 yards with five TDs and seven interceptions. He also ran for 215 yards on 29 runs (7.41 yard average) when Montreal (5-13) finished third in the East Division but missed the CFL playoffs.
