Johnny Manziel Voluntarily Roasts His NFL Career With Cliff Diving Video
BOSTON (CBS) -- It may seem like ancient history now, but it wasn't all that long ago that Johnny Manziel was supposed to be the future of the NFL. After an electric career at Texas A&M as a dual threat QB, Manziel was drafted in the first round by the Cleveland Browns, where he was expected to be a franchise savior.
It ... did not work out.
Manziel started just eight NFL games, losing six of them, before washing out of the league. Despite some comeback efforts in the CFL and the AAF, Manziel has never made it back to the NFL.
While that's a bummer for him, the 27-year-old at least has a sense of humor about it. After the NFL on ESPN Twitter account shared video of a failed backlip off a cliff by Manziel, the QB quote tweeted it with some self-deprecating humor:
That joke was of course being made by evvvveryone who replied to the tweet, but Manziel kind of stole the effectiveness of the insult when he used it himself.
Manziel's career arc remains one of the more fascinating cases in NFL history. He threw for 63 touchdowns and ran for 30 more in his two seasons as a starter at Texas A&M, leading the Aggies to a 20-6 record and a pair of bowl game victories. He won the Heisman in his first year as a starter and was a finalist in his other year.
The NFL, however, was a different story. Manziel went from completing 68.9 percent of his passes in college to completing 57.0 percent of his passes in the NFL. After averaging 9.1 yards per attempt in college, he averaged 6.5 yards per attempt in the NFL. After posting a 63-to-22 TD-to-INT ratio in college, he threw just seven touchdowns with seven interceptions in the NFL. He also rushed for just 259 yards and one touchdown in the NFL after running for 2,169 yards and 30 touchdowns in college.
Maybe it was getting drafted by a terrible organization, or maybe it was his off-field problems, but whatever the case may have been, the reality is that Manziel's career was much shorter than anybody rightfully anticipated.
But at least he got a couple of thousand retweets out of it as a consolation.
