Johnny Manziel to play second season in Fan Controlled Football, says traditional pro career 'in my eyes is over'

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Johnny Manziel is returning for the second season of a professional league.

The 7-on-7 league is scheduled to resume on April 16. It incorporates fan engagement in a blend of traditional and esports environments.

In his eyes, his formal football career is over, but that he wanted to do something for fun.

Manziel said that he doesn't have the drive to play football at a high level anymore. I no longer have a desire to be the best football player in my life. I have come to terms with what my football career was, and what it is, and now I am trying to figure out how I can stay involved in the game, but from a different position.

FCF is not trying to build this on my back and make me the main focus point. I feel like I'm just there to help bring a little bit of magic and a little bit of entertainment, but on a different scale than the past.

Manziel was a first-round pick of the Cleveland Browns in the 2014 draft. His football career lasted two years.

He said that he had battled depression and had abused alcohol.

"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." Johnny Manziel

Manziel spent time in the Canadian Football League with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Montreal Alouettes, as well as in the AAF with the Memphis Express in 2019.

I had an ample amount of opportunities to put my career on a different path, and for whatever reason it was, whether it was me being young or just not seeing life through the right lens at that point in time, I wasted a good opportunity. Life goes the way it goes sometimes.

The FCF said in January that it had secured a 40 million Series A raise to play for the next two seasons. There will be eight teams in the league in 2022. Other celebrity owners include Dalvin Cook, Austin Ekeler, Richard Sherman, and the retired Marshawn Lynch.