Johnny Manziel has an opportunity to play professional football waiting for him if he chooses to accept an open invitation. The Arena Football League reached out to the former Heisman Trophy winner in hopes to get him on the field during its first season back in existence.
AFL commissioner Lee Hutton III slid into his DMs!
This does not mean that Manziel is going to suit up. This does not mean that he is close to reaching an agreement. In fact, we don’t even know if the 31-year-old quarterback read the message.
However, it is something that is available to him should it pique his interest.
I reached out to Johnny Manziel. So, Johnny, I’m a Texas guy. So, if you’re ready to come back and indoors — because you did very well — we will take you. We will find a spot for you.
— Lee Hutton III, via TMZ Sports
Uhhhhh…………. ya think?
To say that the Arena Football League would “find a spot” for Manziel is almost insulting. Although Hutton was probably trying to avoid sounding desperate and certainly didn’t mean anything by what he said, a league that has folded twice in the last 20 years should be rolling out the red carpet to get one of the most high-profile players in the history of football sports on one of its rosters!
Manziel is also not the only former star who has received an invitation.
The AFL, which last went bankrupt in 2019, is set to relaunch next month with 16 teams for a 10-game season. Organizations are spread all across the United States.
- Albany, New York
- Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Nashville, Tennessee
- Trenton, New Jersey
- Atlanta, Georgia
- Lake Charles, Louisiana
- Orlando, Florida
- Odessa, Texas
- Council Bluffs, Iowa
- Salina, Kansas
- Park City, Kansas
- Billings, Montana
- Salem, Oregon
- Rapid City, South Dakoa
- Everett, Washington
Johnny Manziel would have the most draw in the Lone Star State. However, he currently lives in Scottsdale, Arizona and Phoenix is set to get an expansion team in 2025.
Is Johnny Manziel going to play?
The former No. 22 overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft has not indicated whether the AFL is something that he would consider. Hutton reached out. That’s it for now.
With that in mind, Manziel’s last professional football game took place indoor as part of the Fan Controlled Football league in 2022. It was something that he “wanted to do for fun.”
This is a way to go out and compete and have fun on a way smaller scale. 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. I’ve come to terms with what my football career was, and what it is, and now I’m trying to figure out how I can stay entangled in the game, but from a different position.
[FCF] is not trying to build this on my back and make me be the main focus point. I feel like I’m simply there to help bring a little bit of magic and a little bit of entertainment, but on a way different scale than the past.
— Johnny Manziel, via ESPN
The Arena Football League is not trying to build its third attempt at success on Manziel’s back. Perhaps this new opportunity could lure him to “compete and have fun” if it is not too big of a scale?
Time will tell!