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'Let's get that money!': Johnny Manziel plots NFL comeback in Spring League

Known for his lambent talent as much as an even more radiant capacity for self-sabotage, Johnny Football takes his first steps back

Johnny Manziel
Former NFL quarterback Johnny Manziel is targeting a comeback. Photograph: Aaron M. Sprecher/AP

Fields like these are for first hopes, not last chances; youth, not experience; for could-bes, not has-beens. Here, though, below a granite sky at a near-empty high school stadium, a fallen star tried to rise again.

The Spring League, a two-week scouting and development event, is a career resuscitation device for players desperate to seize what may be their last, best hope of joining or returning to the professional ranks. There are more than 150 virtual unknowns on the roster – and one of America’s most famous athletes.

The legend of Johnny Football took root in a high school venue a hundred miles west of Austin, in the little Hill Country town of Kerrville. It sprouted like a fairytale beanstalk a hundred miles east, where Texas A&M University’s football stadium holds nearly 103,000.

And it was chopped down in Cleveland, Ohio, where Johnny Manziel, the first college freshman to win the Heisman Trophy, the kid who had George HW Bush in the audience at his pro day, lasted for only two seasons in the NFL. He started eight of 15 games at quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, throwing for 1,675 yards, seven touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Saturday’s appearance came in a utilitarian venue, the second contest of a doubleheader in near-freezing temperatures in front of a few hundred scouts and cheering gawkers paying $40 for general admission or $300 for a VIP field pass. It was Manziel’s first game since a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in December 2015. He was waived three months later. Now he wants to earn a living playing football again, whether in Canada or the US.

Featuring in about half the game, he had a patchy night but threw an astute touchdown pass and completed nine of 15 passes. He is scheduled to take part in another Spring League fixture on Thursday.

“I’ve repaired a lot of relationships that needed work. I’ve repaired a lot of myself that needed a lot of work and I’m able to run back on the field, something I didn’t know if I’d ever get a chance to do again. So it’s disappointing in some of the things that happened but nevertheless, this is a huge step for me,” he told reporters after the game.

“I put pads back on. A lot of people would have just wrote me off to even get to this point. I’m definitely emotional about it. I’m definitely happy about it. This isn’t the end goal for me, but I’m having fun again.”

Manziel’s fame emanates from his lambent talent and his even more radiant capacity for self-sabotage. Eventually, as legal issues, parties and personal problems piled up, celebrity became notoriety and he grew more relevant to TMZ than the NFL.

Last November a misdemeanour assault charge, filed in 2016 after he was accused of hitting his ex-girlfriend, was dismissed. That year his father told the Dallas Morning News he feared his son would be dead before the age of 24 unless he entered rehab. He is now 25 and got married last month. In February he told Good Morning America that he was diagnosed as bipolar and tried to dent depression with alcohol.

A redemption narrative is always available for gifted athletes. Still, though he improved over time with the Browns, Manziel was not impressive enough to make him an irresistible salvage operation for NFL teams this year, especially in a league that prizes conformists and distrusts individualists. Skepticism was evident even before Manziel threw his first NFL pass: he slipped to a lowly 22nd place when Cleveland took him in the 2014 draft.

“It’s all about the right fit and mine in Cleveland wasn’t right,” he tweeted recently. “I also have nobody to blame but myself.”

Contrition and humility are on-brand these days. But there are signs of the shameless showmanship of old. Manziel is monetizing his would-be return, promoting “COMEBACK$ZN” merchandise to his 2.15m Twitter followers.

A “lost in the sauce” baseball cap ($30; the signed version, $60, is sold out) references a hashtag he used last year to end a tweet that read: “No lie I was a douche in 2016 I’m just trying to be a good PERSON again”. The “Money Manziel $2” logo flips his jersey number into a dollar sign and reminds us that hands can be used to make “pay me” gestures as well as to throw footballs.

Brett Baumgartner, a 21-year-old, came from Waco to support the quarterback and sported a “COMEBACK$ZN” top. “I’m just a Manziel fan. Just his swagger, his energy and what he brings to the game,” he said.

His friend, Caleb Bardin, is confident Manziel will be picked up. “100%. I think Manziel’s coming back this year, hopefully on the Dallas Cowboys is what I’m predicting,” he said. “He’s a great football player, he needs to be in the NFL, make it exciting.”

The 22-year-old wore a Browns replica shirt with “MANZIEL” on the back. Not that he is a Cleveland fan. “No, no, no. Just Johnny. Johnny Manziel, baby! Let’s get that money!”