Netflix doc reveals Johnny Manziel attempted suicide before coming to CFL

Editor’s note: This article discusses suicide.

Before coming to Canada, Johnny Manziel said he tried to end his life. That and more is revealed by the 30-year-old controversial former NFL and CFL quarterback in a new Netflix documentary.

Untold: Johnny Football doesn’t debut until August 8, but some of the details of the documentary have begun to filter out.

A Heisman Trophy winner with Texas A&M in 2012, Manziel was a first-round pick of the Cleveland Browns in the 2014 NFL Draft.

According to reports, Manziel began using OxyContin and cocaine daily after his second NFL season in 2015 and dropped from 215 pounds in January to 175 pounds in September. He was accused of hitting and threatening his girlfriend in January 2016 and faced a misdemeanour charge that was later dismissed. The Browns cut him two months later.

Manziel was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In the documentary, Manziel says that he refused to enter rehab and began “direct self-sabotage” by going on “probably a $5 million bender” before attempting suicide, according to multiple reports.

“I had planned to do everything I wanted to do at that point in my life, spend as much money as I possibly could and then my plan was to take my life,” Manziel reportedly says in the documentary. “I wanted to get as bad as humanly possible to where it made sense, and it made it seem like an excuse and an out for me.”

Manziel had a brief stint in the CFL, with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats quickly adding the high-profile quarterback to their negotiation list after he was cut by the Browns in March of 2017. The CFL was initially hesitant to allow Manziel into the league and made him wait until the 2018 season, provided he met “certain conditions.”

After much fanfare and hype, Manziel sat on the bench as the backup QB for five games with Hamilton in 2018 before being traded to the Montreal Alouettes mid-season. It didn’t go well for him in Montreal, throwing more interceptions (7) than touchdowns (5) in 11 games.

The CFL banned Manziel from the league in February 2019, saying he had “contravened the agreement which made him eligible to play in the league.”

The film, directed by Ryan Duffy, will be available on Netflix Canada on Tuesday.

“I hope viewers take away a nuanced and intimate understanding of Johnny and the running tension between his life as Johnny Football and Johnny Manziel,” Duffy said in a statement to Netflix. “This isn’t one of those sports docs on an older player looking back on victory or defeat and reflecting accordingly in a tidy ending. Johnny is still midstream in a lot of this, and I hope this doc offers a compelling and honest look at his present tense processing.”

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