Johnny Manziel joins Fan Controlled Football startup league
Johnny Manziel is making a return to the gridiron.
The former Cleveland Browns quarterback announced he will join a startup league called Fan Controlled Football, according to ESPN's Kevin Seifert.
The league comes with a fascinating twist as fans will call plays and control roster decisions. The FCF is scheduled to kick off in February and will feature seven-on-seven football.
Manziel, 28, was swayed into returning by the league's fun nature - a big difference from his prior experiences on the field.
"The more I heard about what this was going to be, the more I felt it was going to be something that was just very fun. 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 said.
Manziel, who has flirted with walking away from football entirely in the past, also pointed to the FCF's free-spirited environment.
"This has a lot of potential to just be a good time and still be football-centric," Manziel noted. "They're going to let the people join this league be who they are and have fun with it and be a little bit more free than what football is sometimes.
"That's definitely what appealed to me. They don't want me to change who I am or anything else. They want to come out, put a good product out, and be fun with it."
FCF co-founder and CEO Sohrob Farudi believes Manziel's profile will be perfect for a league that highly values fan interaction.
"We want (players) to connect to fans and be authentic. I think if you look at Johnny's career, he was electric on and off the field. He has that big, bold personality. Sure, he rubbed some people the wrong way. But he just has this presence about him," Farudi said.
The Cleveland Browns drafted the former Heisman winner during the first round in 2014 but cut him after just two seasons due to off-field issues. Manziel then spent time in the CFL before last appearing in the AAF in 2019.
The FCF will release a six-week schedule, and the games, which will stream via Twitch, will last roughly an hour. The field of play will 35-by-50 yards.
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