Johnny Manziel has been open about his past substance use, but he provided some new insights into how dark things got after his career with the Cleveland Browns ended.
Johnny Manziel has never shied away from discussing his tumultuous past, but his latest revelations have left fans and critics stunned. In a jaw-dropping episode of the Club Shay Shay podcast with Shannon Sharpe, Manziel opened up about the darkest chapter of his life after his Cleveland Browns career imploded.
In 2015, the former NFL star revealed that he lost a staggering 40 pounds due to a harrowing addiction to cocaine. “At that point in time, man,” Manziel confessed, “I would look in a mirror and didn’t see myself any different than when I was in Cleveland. It wasn’t until I stepped on a scale at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas that I realized I had lost 40 pounds.”
The shocking weight loss underscores the extent of Manziel’s downward spiral after being drafted by the Browns in 2014. Despite entering the NFL with sky-high expectations as the 22nd overall pick and a Heisman Trophy winner, Manziel’s career unraveled almost immediately, marred by fines, controversy, and erratic behavior.
Even before going pro, there were red flags. A 2013 ESPN The Magazine article exposed his struggles with instant fame, with his parents and then-coach Kevin Sumlin urging him to seek help for his alcohol use after a 2012 arrest.
By the end of his rookie season, Manziel checked into rehab, spending three months in treatment before being released in April 2015. But the NFL’s party boy was far from done with self-destruction. In the Netflix documentary Untold: Johnny Football, released in August 2023, Manziel admitted to a daily habit of OxyContin and cocaine following the 2015 season, a spiral that saw his weight plummet from 215 pounds to a frail 175 in just eight months.
Manziel’s revelations paint a grim picture of the toll fame, addiction, and mental health struggles took on his once-promising football career, leaving fans wondering what could have been.