Johnny Manziel has not played in the NFL since 2015, but the former first-round pick has signed yet another football contract. This time, it’s with a league most people have never heard of.
Manziel told ESPN’s Kevin Seifert this week that he has signed with a startup league called Fan Controlled Football. The league is scheduled to begin play in February and will feature 7-on-7 games where fans can set rosters, call plays and interact in a variety of ways. Manziel says he connected with FCF co-founder and CEO Sohrob Farudi through comedian Bob Menery, who is a mutual friend.
“It’s going to be very fan-oriented and something I could get behind without being extremely, extremely, extremely serious, the way that my football career has been in the past,” Manziel told Seifert.
Manziel briefly played in the Alliance of American Football last year before the league went under. He said he was not actively looking to play organized football but was intrigued by the idea of the FCF.
“This has a lot of potential to just be a good time and still be football-centric. They’re going to let the people [who] join this league be who they are and have fun with it and be a little bit more free than what football is sometimes,” Manziel said. “That’s definitely what appealed to me.”
Farudi feels the league is “built for a guy like” Manziel, as it will connect fans directly to the product through social media and other digital avenues.
Manziel, 28, says he has been very content with his life but is still “trying to re-create an identity” and figure out what he wants to do going forward. The former Texas A&M star has also played in The Spring League and Canadian Football League since the Browns cut him in 2015.
Manziel struggled on the field in Cleveland, but he also had some serious off-field issues. The latter is what really derailed his NFL career, and Manziel recently opened up about his biggest regret from his NFL career.
It will be interesting to see if the FCF catches on and how much of an impact Manziel will have.
