It sounds like Johnny Football is gonna put the ball down and officially walk away from football fields for good.
Don Williams, a columnist with the Lubbock Avalance-Journal, caught up with Manziel at Hillcrest Golf & Country Club in Texas, and it’s pretty clear where Manziel’s mindset is when asked if he’s contemplating another comeback
As Williams writes:
Ask Manziel where he considers his football career at this point, and you get a refreshingly candid answer.
“In the past, probably, is the way I’d characterize it,” Manziel said, leaning forward and without a moment’s hesitation. “I’ve finally got to a point where I’m trying to achieve happiness in life, not happiness on the football field.
“I know a lot of people probably want me to come back and play and give it another chance, but I don’t know, as far as being a person and figuring out life as a young adult — trying to make it and figure it out — if I’ve ever been in a better place than I’m in right now. I can honestly say I’m happy and I’m doing the right things to try and put a smile on my face every day, and that means more to me than going out and grinding on a football field.”
If one were to write Manziel’s legacy right now, with him at 27, the story would be about one of the most electric, exciting players college football has ever seen and one of pro football’s most spectacular flameouts: from being the Cleveland Browns’ first-round pick to being released after two seasons, to bouncing to the CFL to the Alliance of American Football. Since that league folded last spring, he’s been out of the game.
“During that time when I got drafted, I didn’t put in the time that I needed to be a great player and I don’t think my heart was in it,” Manziel said. “And I think when I went back to Canada, it was the same way. I truly believed and truly thought it was what I wanted to do, and my heart wasn’t in it, and it worked out the way it did.”
“I had a great time,” Manziel said. “Anytime I ever stepped between the lines, I had an amazing time. I gave it everything I had.
“I think it’s just, the work you put in when you have the free hours and when you do things on your own, that matches up accordingly with what happens on the field. And when you get to thinking that you’re too good or you’re better than the game, it’ll humble you. And that’s what happened. I got humbled. Thank God I did get a chance to be humbled because when you think you’re at the top of the world, it’s a dangerous place.”
At least Manziel is being honest and seems to be in a much happier headspace and place (Scottsdale, Arizona) then he was previously.
To read the rest of the column, go here.