Of all the NFL busts who partied their way out of the league, Johnny Manziel might be the most intriguing.
It was only a decade ago that Manziel-mania was in full swing, with “Johnny Football” becoming the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy in 2012.
Who can forget the drama at the 2014 NFL Draft as the Dallas Cowboys braintrust desperately pleaded with owner Jerry Jones not to take the Texas A&M QB in the first round?
They succeeded — and Manziel fell to the cursed Cleveland Browns with the 22nd pick. He washed out of the league by 2016.
Nobody loved the clubs more than Johnny Football. Netflix dropped a big hint Friday it’s planning to mine his rags-to-riches-and-back-to-rags saga in a new documentary.
The now-29-year-old Manziel made an appearance in Netflix’s sports documentary, “Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist,” about former Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o.
Manziel and the streaming giant both dropped tweets Friday indicating a Johnny Football doc is in the works.
The 10-second video clip shows Manziel settling into a chair for an interview. He doesn’t say a word. But he still exhibits some of his old brio, winking at the camera. The clip has already rung up 1.7 million views and counting.
The thought of a warts-and-all Johnny Football doc was welcomed by sports media Friday.
“At 29, Manziel’s NFL career is almost certainly over, but he remains a popular conversation among football fans, which could make his apparent Netflix documentary a huge success,” wrote Bleacher Report.
Added The Big Lead: “A Johnny Football documentary? Maybe it’s not the most essential story that could be told, but it should still be pretty interesting. Manziel was a legend in high school and college.
“A homeless man convinced the Browns owner to draft him and he became another cursed Cleveland quarterback. Then all the off-the-field stuff. There’s no shortage of material to work with and apparently that’s just what Netflix is going to do.”
The former Aggies star is still hanging on, playing in the 7-on-7 Fan Controlled Football league.
But he admitted earlier this year he’s now playing just for fun — and that his formal football career is pretty much over.
“This is a way to go out and compete and have fun on a way smaller scale,” said Manziel. “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.”
