Johnny Manziel still remembers the moment his football career started to go wrong.
He remembers the lights and crowd at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on draft night in 2014. He remembers the moment he walked on stage after being selected in the first round by the Cleveland Browns following a successful college career.
And most of all, he remembers the crippling depression that struck him afterwards.
“I had the opportunity to walk across the stage at Radio City Music Hall and be the first pick in the NFL draft. I had everything I could have ever wanted in my life. I had money. I had fame… And for some reason, when I got there and got everything I wanted, I think that was really the biggest emptiness I felt inside,” Manziel said during a Q&A with students and recovering addicts at the annual VitAL health conference at the University of Alabama on Monday in a video obtained by Fox News Digital.
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Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel walks off the field after a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Dec. 27, 2015, at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. (Peter G. Aiken/Getty Images)
“I think that from then on I started to isolate myself and focus on doing things that I shouldn't do, things that temporarily made me feel better, that temporarily made me happy. So, little by little, I learned what depression was.”
At the time, Manziel was entering the NFL after two years of being one of the top stars in college football history. His two-year career at Texas A&M included a Heisman Trophy, a historically shocking win against Alabama, several broken records and an outrageous suspension for illegally signing autographs for money.
But his star quickly faded in Cleveland. Manziel entered rehab in April 2015, just four months after the end of his rookie season. He was released by the Browns in 2016, shortly after the end of his second season. His ongoing problems with alcohol and drugs reportedly weighed heavily on his standing with the team.
Manziel says his drinking problems worsened when he struggled with football.
“As much as I loved football and as good as I was at it, I think there was something else in college and high school that I became really good at, and that was partying,” Manziel said Monday. “I think for me, when things started to get better in my football life, I just went on to do something else that I was really good at.”
Manziel's performance in the NFL reflected the shift in his priorities. In just eight starts over two seasons, he had a 2-6 record. His only two wins came in 2015 against a Tennessee Titans team that had a 3-13 record and a San Francisco 49ers team that had a 5-11 record. Manziel finished with a career stat line of 1,675 passing yards with seven touchdowns, seven interceptions, a 57% completion percentage and 22 sacks.
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Johnny Manziel laughs on the field during week seven of the fan-controlled football season on May 28, 2022 in Atlanta (Brett Carlsen/Fan Controlled Football/Getty Images)
Former Browns coach Mike Pettine, who was involved in the decision to draft Manziel, admitted to reporters in December 2015 that those issues were not apparent to the Browns while the quarterback was still in college and that it seemed like the team got a very different player than the one from Texas A&M.
“You look at the reputation, what he was there,” Pettine said that year of Manziel's pre-draft analysis. “I don't think we anticipated his problems, his issues, how deep-rooted they were, the extent of them.”
The difference was that Manziel had experienced depression after being drafted by Cleveland.
In addition to alcohol, Manziel has said in the past that he lost 40 pounds in 2015 due to excessive cocaine use.
However, in February 2018, during an interview with “Good Morning America,” Manziel said he was completely sober.
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Johnny Manziel of the Texas A&M Aggies celebrates a touchdown in the third quarter during a game against the Rice Owls at Kyle Field on August 31, 2013, in College Station, Texas. (Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
Manziel said Monday in Alabama that he has been avoiding alcohol for some time.
“Alcohol and drugs were detrimental to the path I was trying to take in my life. I didn't really realize that until it was too late. The way I look at things and the way I look at them now, they don't have a place in my life. They don't help me at all. I'm not better off going out drinking or doing drugs,” Manziel said.
“I'm looking to live a healthier, purer lifestyle, and it took me a long time to get to that point.”
Manziel will join The Action Network's “Big Bets on Campus” podcast as a college football analyst this week, the company announced Wednesday.
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