While Johnny Manziel spent most of his interview with Shannon Sharpe apologizing for his bad boy behavior to people like Drake and LeBron James, he also dropped some major gems along the way during the interview.
His first reveal was his father offering a pay-play deal with Texas A&M in order for the Heisman winner to stay in school. Of course, he decided to enter the NFL Draft and was later drafted by the Cleveland Browns.
But maybe his biggest reveal was that he was on cocaine after his time in Cleveland. Manziel said while he was in Las Vegas after the Browns had released him, he went on a drug binge.
Manziel said he dropped 40 pounds because of cocaine.
“I was 210 pounds when I left Cleveland,” he said. Later that year, he spent more time in Vegas, saying “I was 170 pounds sitting in Vegas.” Sharpe was obviously surprised at the dramatic weight loss, and then Manziel admitted, “How do you lose 40 pounds? You’re on a strict diet of blow.”
Manziel had already admitted to his drug use before during his 2023 Netflix documentary “Johnny Football” and said those around him tried to help him but he refused.
“The people closest to me were in the mindset of ‘We have to let him go,'” Manziel said in the documentary. “And when that happened, it was full-blown ‘I’m gonna rub this whole thing in your [freaking] face.'”
He also believed he was acting out of spite. “‘You think you’ve seen something now?'” he added. “‘You haven’t seen [anything] yet.’
And he was right, Manziel went on to basically ruin not only his career but his reputation as well. He was seen in the eyes of many NFL experts as unreliable and untrustworthy because of his lifestyle.
He not only was doing drugs, but he had gotten in trouble with the law several times as well. Back in 2016, Manzeil’s then-girlfriend accused him of beating her so badly to the point that she couldn’t hear, a claim he denied.
Weeks prior to that incident, Manziel had gotten into an altercation with a bartender who claimed Manziel had punched him too and had broken his nose.
Right after both incidents, the Browns released him and Manziel was never seen in the NFL again. It seemed as if all the little stability he had in his life was gone and it seemed as if at the time Maziel was beyond saving.
Even people like LeBron James tried to come to Manziel’s aid when he first arrived in Cleveland to try to put him in the right direction but Manziel refused the help.
After several more attempts to try to play football again in other leagues, Manziel apparently has retired to concentrate on fixing himself over the past few years and it looks as if it’s working.
Although Manziel may have lost his pro football career in the process he may have found himself. Manziel’s main drug of choice may have been cocaine at the time, but his addiction to fame almost cost him his life.
{Club Shay Shay, People Magazine}
