Johnny Manziel: NIL 'would've been an absolute game-changer' if it existed during college career

When Johnny Manziel was at Texas A&M, he was on top of the college football world. “Johnny Football” was a household name as he went on to win the Heisman and eventually go to the Cleveland Browns as the No. 22 overall pick in the NFL Draft.

But NIL was still eight years away as Manziel ended his junior season. That meant he wasn’t able to make money through endorsement deals as he rose to stardom. If he could, though, he said it would be a “game-changer.”

When Manziel signed his rookie contract with the Browns, it was worth $8.2 million over four years with a fifth-year option, according to Spotrac. Because of how popular he was in college, though, he argued he could’ve made more money at Texas A&M – which is why his path could’ve been different.

“I think for me, obviously being able to make an amount of money like that, I would’ve made more money staying in college than I probably would’ve on a rookie contract,” Manziel said on Almost Friday Media’s Glory Daze podcast. “So I felt pressure to go to the NFL to try and make a dollar amount that nobody in my family had really, I didn’t see from my dad, I didn’t see from anybody else that was in my immediate family.

“So for me it was a huge financial incentive to be able to do it. If I could have stayed in college and stayed in school and continued to live the life that I was living while making money, I think for me it would’ve been an absolute game-changer.”

Looking back on Johnny Manziel’s career at Texas A&M

Johnny Manziel burst onto the college football scene in 2012 when he became the first freshman to ever win the Heisman Trophy. That year, he threw for 3,706 yards and 26 touchdowns to help the Aggies to an 11-2 record. Along the way, he set multiple records, including one against Arkansas when he had 557 yards of total offense. That broke Archie Manning’s record, and Manziel broke his own mark just two games later with 576 yards of offense in a single game.

As a redshirt sophomore in 2013, Manziel threw for 4,114 yards and 37 touchdowns as he finished fifth in the Heisman voting. He then headed to Cleveland, where he spent two years before leaving the Browns and playing in other professional football leagues.

But Manziel’s career wasn’t without controversy. Notably, he wound up at the center of an investigation into allegations he accepted payments for autographs. While the NCAA determined Manziel didn’t accept money for the autographs, he still received a suspension for an “inadvertent violation” of NCAA rules. Under the NCAA’s current NIL guidance, Manziel would be able to profit off autograph signings.