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Johnny Manziel is returning for the second season of a professional league known as Fan Controlled Football, he told ESPN.
The league, which plays a 7-on-7 format in an indoor facility in Atlanta, is scheduled to resume matches on April 16. It incorporates fan engagement in a mix of traditional and e-sports environments and is broadcast primarily on Twitch.
Manziel told ESPN that his formal football career “is over in my eyes”, but that FCF is something “I would do for fun.” He has friendships with a number of the league’s celebrity owners, including comedian / podcaster Bob Menery and rapper Quavo.
“This is a way to go out and compete and have fun on a much smaller scale,” Manziel said. “I do not have the desire to play football at a high level anymore. I no longer have a drive to be the best football player that I used to have in my life, and I’m okay with that. football career was and what it is and now I’m trying to figure out how I can stay involved in the game but from a different position.
“[FCF] 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 different scale than before. “
Manziel, 29, won the 2012 Heisman Trophy while playing for Texas A&M and was a first-choice pick among the Cleveland Browns in 2014. His NFL career lasted only two years.
He said in 2018 that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had abused alcohol while living with depression.
“I do not have the drive to play football at a high level anymore. I do not have the drive to be the best football player anymore that I used to have in my life, and I’m okay with that.”
Johnny Manziel
Manziel spent time in 2018 with CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Montreal Alouettes, signed with AAF’s Memphis Express in 2019 and played for FCF’s Zappers in 2021.
“I had plenty of opportunities to put my career on a different path, and for whatever reason it was whether it was me who was young or just did not see life through the right lens at the time, I wasted a good opportunity.” said Manziel. “The more I look back on my life and keep reflecting and trying to bury some things and put some things in the past, that’s one thing I decided to do was to let [football] go and let it be what it is. Sometimes life goes the way it does. “
In January, the FCF said it secured a $ 40 million Serie A raise to play the next two seasons. The league has expanded from four to eight teams by 2022. Its co-founder is entrepreneur Sohrob Farudi, and other well-known owners include NFL players Dalvin Cook, Austin Ekeler, Richard Sherman and retired Marshawn Lynch.
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