Estimating Johnny Manziel’s Net Worth

Figuring out how much NFL players make from their endorsements is not as easy as it sounds.

Not only does the NFL restrict the types of endorsements players and coaches are allowed to take (for example, headgear and clothing endorsements are limited to off-field appearances, as the NFL has an exclusive contract with Nike to wear their shoes during games, drastically reducing the amount of money that could be generated), but the highest estimated off-field earnings for Peyton Manning, the “most marketable NFL player for most of the past decade,” is only $12 million. Compare that to someone like LeBron James or Kobe Bryant, who earn upwards of $30 million in endorsements, and you’ll realize that the money NFL players pull in from endorsement deals pales in comparison to other sports leagues.

Clearly, Johnny Manziel is not making anywhere near Manning’s estimated $12 million. According to Forbes’ estimations, on the lower end of the spectrum, Tony Romo and Marshawn Lynch only make $5 million in endorsements a year – however, both players are NFL veterans. Someone like Manziel, a hot-shot QB in his rookie year, should logically expect to make substantially less than that. With that in mind, here are the numbers we came up with:

Muscle Pharm – $250,000
Snickers – $150,000
McDonald’s – $150,000
Nissan – $150,000

As for how much Manziel made with his Nike deal, well, that’s a little more complicated. ESPN reports that while financial terms remain undisclosed, sources stated that “it’s a multiyear deal that will be the highest price paid for a rookie in this year’s class.” For that reason, we decided to go out on a limb and throw the guy a solid $500,000:

Nike – $500,000

There’s also the miscellaneous endorsement money he could’ve picked up along the way – local things like getting paid to show up at restaurant openings and such. According to Delancy Bennett, an assistant professor of sports marketing at Clemson, this is where Manziel could’ve really started raking in the cash:

Bennett, who used to help the Carolina Panthers arrange sponsorships, said a normal player drafted out of college who wasn’t a starter, in a market like Cleveland, would make between $10,000 to $20,000 on side local appearances at places like a car dealerships.

“It’d be two grand here, five grand there,” he said. “Someone who is (a starter) out of college, you can probably multiply all those numbers by five or 10.”

Then there’s the man, the legend, Mr. Football.

“Johnny Manziel is an outlier,” Bennett said. “If he doesn’t start and does things locally, he could probably see himself getting, at the bottom, $100,000 to $300,000 in his first year.”

What if he became a starter?

“$1 million to $3 million.”(via)

We all know that’s not quite how things worked out for Manziel – but just to give him the benefit of the doubt (and give ourselves a nice cushion in case we underestimated how much he made in his other endorsement deals), we allotted a fat $300K for “miscellaneous”:

Other – $300K

Altogether, we have an estimated endorsement value of $1.45 million. Combined with the $7,707,913 he received from the Browns, that’s a total estimated personal wealth of $10,607, 913…but what good is all that money if you don’t have anything to spend it on?

No one can tell us how much Johnny Manziel blew on babes and bottles except for the man himself – but that doesn’t mean we can’t track where he was, who he was with, what he was doing, and estimate how much he was spending starting January 1st of this year through to the end of March. For the sake of consistency, we assumed Manziel had at least two people with him at all times, both of whom he paid for in order to maintain a semblance of having an “entourage.” We also don’t know for sure which hotels he stayed at while in town, so for the sake of this exercise we picked one of the more expensive hotels available in each city he stayed at and that none of his bills were ever comped. Deciding which outings were free and which ones weren’t would be an impossible task, and besides — it’s not like Manziel currently has the full $10,607,913 still available. Guy’s definitely spent through at least a good chunk of it, so in our minds that makes up for the lack of comps we gave him. For all the days when he wasn’t spotted partying, we assumed he spent at least $500 each day. That may seem like a lot to you and I, but this is Johnny Manziel we’re talking about – if the kid were smart he wouldn’t have blown his career before it even started.

Ready? Let’s take it from the start.

 

January 2016

The weekend of January 1st Johnny Manziel was spotted at “a popular night club” on the Vegas strip that Saturday night, allegedly wearing “a blonde wig, a fake mustache, glasses and a hoodie” (emphasis ours from this point onward):

Manziel introduced himself as “Billy.” He was there into the 3am hour and when it came time to pay the bill, he asked to have it comped because he didn’t bring cash and also didn’t want to put it on his card.

However, the sources tell us he ended up paying with his card and signing the check.

By 3am he appeared to be enjoying the party scene that Vegas is known to offer.

The club had Manziel and his crew placed at a VIP table close to the DJ booth. The table is located in one of the darkest areas of the club.

Manziel dined at the club’s restaurant before going to the nightclub. He was seated at the most private area in the restaurant, which is still out in the open. And yes, he ate with his wig and glasses on.(via)

Bottle service is expensive. Fine dining in Vegas is expensive. Vegas is expensive. For a minimum of four people (including Manziel) popping bottles at a Vegas night club, plus at least a few female bottle rats looking to schmooze their way into some free liquor, we deemed Manziel’s bottle service endeavor to have cost $20K. Bumping around in a night club wasn’t where his weekend ended, however, as he was also spotted gambling at the Planet Hollywood casino:

Johnny Manziel, who will sit out the Cleveland Browns’ regular season finale Sunday due to a concussion, was seen Saturday dining and gambling at Las Vegas’ Planet Hollywood casino, according to employees and patrons who interacted with the embattled quarterback.

Manziel, who Browns coach Mike Pettine said still must address off-field problems that resulted in a stint in rehab last year, paid cash for a meal at a restaurant in the casino, according to Tina Samira, a waitress who served Manziel and his guests at Heart Bar at Planet Hollywood.

Manziel also sat down at a blackjack table and a casino employee examining his photo ID exclaimed, “We’ve got Johnny Manziel with us tonight,” according to John Hornacek, a 43-year-old casino patron who witnessed the exchange.(via)

Playing blackjack? Solid $10K right there, plus paying for the food and drink of his entourage? Give it another $15K. And don’t forget the airfare from Cleveland to Vegas – at $700 per person for first class seats that’s another $2,100.

Gambling – $10,000
Bottle Service – $20,000
Food/Drink – $15,000
2 Planet Hollywood “Panorama” Suites – $10,476.48
First Class Round-Trip Airfare From Cleveland To Vegas For 3 – $2,100
Miscellaneous Party Allocation – $1,000

What is “miscellaneous party allocation,” you ask? Legally, we can’t be any more specific than that — but we can show you this photo and let you draw your own conclusions:

The week of January 4 – 10 Manziel was, for once, not caught boozing it up or scuttling around a casino in a fake wig and mustache. Same for the week of January 11 – 17, so with almost two weeks of managing to keep himself out of the headlines at $500 a day, that’s $6,000 spent doing nothing but bumming around in Cleveland. That’s not to say he didn’t go out and party during that time – just that he wasn’t anyplace notable or didn’t get caught.

Living Expenses Of The Rich And Famous: $6,000

That all ended come January 21st, however, when Johnny made his joyous return to headlines by hitting up a Mike Stud concert down in Texas:

The polarizing quarterback found a new party posse in his home state of Texas. He took in a Mike Stud concert with Mavericks star Chandler Parsons and Stars center Tyler Seguin at the Trees Dallas venue Wednesday night.

In a video captured by TMZ, the hard-partying Heisman Trophy winner gets goofy for the cameras, and Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard and Drake’s pal Ryan Silverstein were reportedly nearby.(via)

Luckily for Manziel, Dallas is a much cheaper city than Vegas. Could he potentially rack up the same sort of bill he did three weekends prior? Sure – but he would’ve made more than one appearance in the news had he really gone balls to the wall about it.

2 “Premier Executive Rooms” At The Omni Hotel – $4,068.70
Food, Alcohol, Etc. For 4 Days – $5,000
First Class Round-Trip Airfare From Cleveland To Dallas For 3 – $1,500
Miscellaneous Party Allocation$500

Total Estimated Money Spent In January: $78,645.18

 

February 

Manziel started out February with a whisper as opposed to the Vegas banger he had the month prior, however that’s not to say he still didn’t spend an estimated shitload by the time it was over – from the 1st through the 10th Manziel was nowhere to be found, which means he was either in an induced coma or Cleveland. Either way, for nine days out of the public spotlight that’s another $4,500 we’ll assume he spent. Valentine’s Day weekend, however, was another story:

While Johnny Manziel’s father continues to worry about him, Manziel is continuing to have a blast this off-season.

Manziel’s Valentine’s Day weekend included hanging at former Aggies teammate Mike Evans’ wedding in the Houston area.

The former Texas A&M Heisman winner appeared all over social media from the wedding.(via)

Houston, like Dallas, is nowhere near as expensive as Vegas…but that’s not to say he still wasn’t able to rack up quite the bill:

First Class Round-Trip Airfare From Cleveland To Houston For 3 – $2,100
2 “Bed And Breakfast Package” Rooms At The Omni Hotel, 5 Nights – $3,603.60
Food And Booze, Reduced Since Some Free At The Wedding – $5,000

This may not seem like much, but we’re about to have him blowing a helluva lot more money when he makes the trip down to Miami on the 25th, whereas for February 16 – 24 he managed to keep a low profile and “only” rack up $4,500 in assumed living expenses. Miami wasn’t as kind to his wallet, however:

Johnny Manziel spent his Thursday night pounding champagne in a hot Miami nightclub — a bizarre way to spend the night hours after officials announced his domestic violence case was going to a grand jury.

TMZ Sports spoke with multiple witnesses (including a staff member) — and obtained video — showing the embattled QB drinking straight from what appears to be a champagne bottle at Story nightclub in Miami.

Manziel tried to go semi-incognito in a big hat and sunglasses … but it’s obvious it’s Manziel.(via)

First Class Round-Trip Airfare From Cleveland To Miami For 3 – $2,100
Bottle Service At STORY Nightclub – $15,000
1 Room At EPIC 29 Waterview Double Double, 5 Nights – $3,343.10
Food/Drink For 5 Nights – $15,000

Seems like a lot of money to you? Well Manziel still isn’t done:

Johnny Manziel was recently spotted doing what he does best — partying with reckless abandon.

A clubgoer forwarded Snapchat videos of Manziel…the clips are loaded with cliches: Manziel, showing off his flashy watch, makes it rain at the strip club while the movie Scarface plays in the background.(via)

Strip Club – $10,000
Total Estimated Money Spent In February: $65,146.70

 

March

You may have thought that Manziel’s expenses for January and February, $78,645.18 and $65,146.70 respectively, were ludicrous amounts of money to be spent by one guy in the span of just one month. If that’s the case, heed our warning now:

Johnny Manziel truly lost his shit after he was officially cut from the Cleveland Browns.

He lost his shit in the 11 days leading UP to the official announcement too, so let’s not jump ahead of ourselves. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover despite this being the final month we tracked, but lucky for us it starts with a few slow days, as March 1-2 Manziel managed to stay out of the papers.

Living Expenses Of The Rich And Famous – $1,000

Of course, in true Manziel fashion, this didn’t hold true for long, as from March 3-6 he was spotted with Scott Disick in Las Vegas:

Manziel and Disick were spotted together at 1 OAK Las Vegas, and to say they’re dressed eerily similar would be an understatement.

We’re told the two showed up together just after midnight with a big group and sat in the VIP section. Neither is a stranger to the party scene, so we’re guessing they got a long just fine.(via)

First Class Airfare For 3 To Vegas, ONE WAY – $1,200
Bottle Service With Scott Disick At 1 Oak – $30,000

I think we can all agree that Scott Disick does not party cheap.

Food/Drink For Two Nights, Paying For Entourage – $10,000
Two Planet Hollywood “Panorama” Suites, Two Nights – $4,587.52

Keep in mind that this is also the beginning of Manziel’s downward spiral into being cut from the Browns – guy only nosedives even further from here, finishing a party bender in Vegas sometime on Sunday and going straight to Los Angeles to party there from March 6 – 13:

Johnny Manziel hit the Hollywood club scene again — this time, rolling into TWO hot spots on a Monday night … and sang Scott Disick’s praises on the way out.

TMZ Sports has footage of Manziel rolling out of The Nice Guy — where his voice seemed shot … but he still mustered up the energy to give a shout-out to Disick.

As we previously reported, Johnny and Scott partied together in Vegas over the weekend … and apparently, Johnny took a serious liking to the guy.

“The Lord knows what’s up!”(via)

First Class Airfare For Three From Vegas To LA, Back To Cleveland – $1,800

Bottle Service/Partying In LA On March 7, 8, 9, 10 And 11: $75,000
Seven Nights At Omni LA, Bed And Breakfast Package, Late Checkout – $7,677.80

We could go ahead and detail how Manziel was spotted at 1 OAK on the Sunset Strip, or how he was seen rolling into Warwick, the Hyde Lounge and was caught partying at the Roxy in West Hollywood – but that would take up a lot of time and space when, if you really cared, you could just click the linked articles. We allotted $15,000 for each night of partying, giving you the total $75,000 you see above.

We have finally caught up to March 11, when it was first reported that the Browns had officially cut Johnny Manziel.

Shit is about to go down.

Before hopping into the back of a female-packed SUV outside The Nice Guy in West Hollywood on Sunday [March 13th], the disgraced quarterback told TMZ he plans to resurrect his playing career in the coming year.(via)

Bottle Service/Partying – $15,000

For March 13th and 14th all was quiet on the Manziel front, and for the sake of his liver we’re going to pretend he flew back to Cleveland for a few days. Dude’s probably got at least several pounds of laundry for his personal assistant to do, because there’s no way Johnny Manziel knows that whites are supposed to be washed separate from darks. Or maybe he just bought an entirely new wardrobe, I DON’T KNOW – but what I do know is that Johnny made his way down to Miami for Miami Music Week…

One-Way First Class Airfare To Miami From Cleveland – $900
and Miami Music Week is literally one of the biggest party weeks of the entire year…

After being dumped by the Browns, troubled quarterback Johnny Manziel is still partying.

Manziel was spotted at Liv in Miami on Sunday buying bottles of Champagne and watching Usher and Lil Wayne perform.

Also at the club were P. Diddy, Floyd Mayweather, Rick Ross, Busta Rhymes, French Montana and Fat Joe.(via)

…yeah. Let’s call it an even $50,000 for the whole six-day excursion up until the 21st.

From this point onward, we’re assuming that Johnny Manziel does not return to Cleveland and is now hotel-hopping wherever the party takes him. Since he’s also been cut by the Browns at this point, we’re upping his daily costs from $500 to $1,000 per day, as nothing makes you feel better about your failing career like blowing cash on material items. From March 22-25, that means he spent $4,000 as he managed to keep his name out of the papers once again:

Living Expenses Of The Rich And Famous, 4 Days – $4,000

Mind you, he’s still in Miami at this point, which means his hotel and food bill is significantly higher than normal:

Miami EPIC 29 Waterview Hotel, March 15-26 – $11,192.64
Eating 2x A Day And Paying For Entourage, March 15-26 – $40,000

And because there’s no way we can close out March without adding at least a few more expenses to his ledger, Manziel made his way to Vegas shortly after his stint in Miami, partying it up with celebrity chef Mario Batali:

The free agent quarterback was seen partying in Las Vegas early Sunday morning with celebrity chef Mario Batali, who posted a photo of himself with Manziel and his entourage on Instagram.

Batali tagged the location of the photos as TAO, a nightclub at the Venetian hotel, where Batali owns and runs a restaurant. Batali captioned the photo with “Turns out Johnny Manziel is pretty pretty cool! and his mgmt!!”(via)

First Class One-Way Airfare For Three From Miami To Vegas – $900
Bottle Service/Partying In Vegas – $20,000

At this point it’s now March 28th – there’s only three days left in the month. Surely Manziel threw in the towel and took a sobriety break, right?

Right?

Johnny Manziel is BACK … in the club scene not the NFL … hitting up two clubs Wednesday night and TMZ Sports has the footage.

The unemployed NFL quarterback started his night off at the Lakers game at Staples Center — but after the game was over, he rolled into The Nice Guy … which was packed with huge stars like Kendall Jenner, Brody Jenner, Nick Jonas, Selena Gomez and more.

After a while, Manziel decided it was time to move and took the party over to Warwick nightclub … where he stayed until 2 AM.(via)

Just kidding.

First Class One-Way Airfare For Three From Vegas To Los Angeles – $600
Bottle Service/Partying – $10,000
Omni Hotel, 2 Rooms 4 Nights, “Bed And Breakfast Package” – $4,451.60

 

Total Estimated Money Spent In March: $288,609.56

 

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how we came to the conclusion that from January 1st to March 31st, Johnny Manziel spent $432,401.44 in the span of three months.