Sorry Johnny, The Doors Seem To All Be Closed

Oh Johnny Football, will we ever see you don a professional football uniform ever again?

In July Manziel said he is taking things seriously and wants to get back in to the NFL. He said he has cut out is partying and was working out with the intent of playing in the 2017-18 NFL season. He re-hired his former agent Erik Burkardt and Manziel said that multiple NFL teams were seriously talking to him about coming back to the league.

As expected, no NFL team has talked to him and if they did, they are not admitting it. The only team that has talked to him is the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats who had him in their facility last week for a work-out.

It didn’t go well with the statement “Too many red flags” being tossed around the news outlets. According to sources within Hamilton’s front office, Manziel had trouble passing the physical and medical tests, he was not in playing shape and the team didn’t feel his off-field regiment was consistent with someone who wants to play professional football.

Money Manziel has already spread the news that if he doesn’t make it back in to professional football he wants to coach college football. I don’t think he has the demeanor to be a consistent and capable coach and I find it hard to believe that any reputable college would bring him on because he is a huge liability and the media circus that will follow him will be disruptive. Sure, I can see Texas A&M bringing him on as a consultant and pay him $100k to show up at alumni events to sign autographs or a D-III team bring him on to be a QB coach but I think even his coaching aspirations are a bit far fetched.

A New Job On A New Frontier?

Recently Pete Carrol said that the Seahawks may have some interest in RG3 and Colin Kaepernick because currently the Seahawks only have Trevone Boykin as backup QB and having an additional backup who can run the offense like Russell Wilson is a bonus. But yesterday the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League announced that they have acquired the rights to both RG3 and Kaepernick as well as Johnny Manziel.

Because the players are all still considered NFL free agents any NFL team has first shot at the players but if for some reason one of them decides to head to Canada then Hamilton has the rights to sign them before any other team can sign them. At this point none of the three players have even mentioned any plans for their future.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Johnny Manziel will be in Houston during the Super Bowl and he will be signing autographs for all his adoring fans. Crave Sports has set up the autograph signing for one hour each day on February 2^nd and February 3^rd at two different malls in Houston. And because Johnny Football is in such high demand you can expect to pay big bucks to fuel his addictions: $99 for an autograph and an additional $29 for an inscription. Want a photo with the train wreck? It will be $99 for a photo op or $50 for a selfie.

 

I am certain there will be hundreds of fans at each signing all willing to pay the $99+ to get his autograph at a live event. Just to break things down, let’s say 100 people show up for each 1-hour session, this means he will spend an average of 36 seconds with each person. Is paying $99 for half a minute with Manziel seem logical?

 

Now if I were even a fan there are plenty of options out there that would save time and money, though you do miss out on the 36 seconds of being in his vicinity and breathing the same air.

 

This JSA certified Johnny Manziel autographed Texas A&M mini helmet and autographed jersey sold for $99 w/ free shipping yesterday.

 

If 8x10 photos is your choice for autographs, this Panini Authentic Johnny Manziel Cleveland Browns autographed 8x10 that was signed at the 2014 National during Panini’s VIP party went for $15.50 w/ $4.50 shipping last week. There are currently two more up for auction for under $40 shipped.

 

If you are more a card autograph type of collector there is a very cool option in this 2014 Press Pass Gameday Gallery autograph #10/25. I think this is a nice looking card, limited and an on-card autograph. You cannot go wrong with this one and it isn’t bad at $20 w/ $3 shipping, this would be my choice.

Two Failures Failing

With the NFL Draft two days away two former First Round draft picks, who both wore #2, are in the news.

The failure that is JaMarcuss Russell, the 2007 #1 pick, has announced in a recent SI interview that he is willing to play one season in the NFL for free. He even sent a letter to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones saying that he will start from the bottom working with the practice team to learn the playbook. Jones is a big proponent of giving questionable players a second chance but Russell has not played a down since 2009 and has only had to one workout with a team since, in 2013 with the Bears.

Also in the news in Johnny Manziel who was indicted today in Texas on assault charges on his ex-girlfriend. Normally I wouldn't give Manziel and space on my blog but his life has been in free fall since January and he is flirting with jail time now, the assault charge is a misdemeanor with up to one year in jail and fines. America loves to watch a train wreck but when the person is destroying their body with drugs and alcohol he is beyond a train wreck and his family is fearing he may not live to his next birthday. In this case jail may be the best option to help Manziel. I am willing to bet that he won't see any jail time and a minimum fine because affluence seems to be a viable defense in Texas.

Personally I hope they both just move on and stop trying to add more of a media circus to the NFL.

Is Johnny Football Back?

 

With four games left in the season the Browns have announced that Johnny Manziel will finish the season as the starter, this is after he was demoted to third-string QB following some bad off-field decisions.

The Browns are 2-10 (Manziel is 1-2 during his starts) and in the final four games will be facing the 49ers at home before heading to Seattle and then Kansas City and finally closing out the season at home against Pittsburgh. The betting line has the 49ers game nearly 50-50 but the other three games are severely stacked against the Browns. If Manziel can get a win or two or at least have a solid game against the Steelers again he may either flat out win the starting job for next season or possibly looking at a trade to a team requiring a quarterback.

Before Johnny Football even showed up on an NFL field his cards were selling for insane amounts because he was well…Mr. Football. He was polarizing but that didn’t stop collectors from grabbing up his cards even though the prices were inflated.

With Manziel taking the reins again is it reasonable to begin purchasing his cards again? I am definitely not jumping on that bandwagon, I actually own two Manziel cards (Shown above) and have no intent of adding more to my collection any time soon.

Would You Collect A Manziel Baseball Card?

 In a continuing attempt at including Johnny Manziel in to as many products as possibly Topps has decided to include Manziel in the upcoming Bowman Draft Picks set being released in December.

 

Manziel was selected by the Padres in the 28^th Round of the 2014 MLB Draft, number 837^th overall. Manziel last played baseball as a Junior in high school in 2010, and while this wouldn’t be the first time that a NFL QB was drafted by MLB it would be the first time that a NFL QB had his own baseball card without even showing up for batting practice following being drafted.

 

Other NFL QBs that were drafted by baseball teams include Colin Kaepernick, Russell Wilson, Jake Locker, Brandon Weeden and Tom Brady. Wilson and Weeden are the only ones that have baseball cards but they both have played baseball in the minor league system so it is reasonable for them to be included in Bowman sets. Topps did include Wilson in this year’s Bowman release as a Texas Ranger but at least he showed up for the Rangers in Spring League and took batting practice and did drills with the team.

 

Johnny “Baseball” is depicted on the Bowman card wearing a Padres jersey with a Heisman logo on the sleeve, the picture was from a publicity shot when he threw out the first pitch at a game in May 2013. They didn’t even have a shot from after the draft. You think they could have tossed him in to a Padres jersey and took him to Petco Park to at least claim it was an “Official” MLB picture. 

This is an interesting situation because one of the most collected rookies in both NFL and MLB has seen limited time in only 2 NFL games and will never appear in an MLB game.

Now What Johnny?

Now that the big question of where Johnny Football would end up we ask the question of can a Cleveland Browns player draw in the casual collector to pay the money that Manziel cards are already demanding? His Leaf Cleveland predictor card and Upper Deck autographs are sitting in the $200+ range, not that we are seeing a lot of action on them the cards are still being priced that high.

 

I am not ripping on Browns collectors, it just seems like players who should be collectible seem to disappear once they put on the uniform. Trent Richardson, Brady Quinn, Kellen Winslow and even going back to the return of the Browns in 1999 with Tim Couch.

 

Time will tell. Personally I would like to see this kid start the first game so he can show what he can do, there is no way he could do any worse than Tyler Thigpen, Alex Tanney or Vince Young. Using the 2014 Topps Football card design I put together what Manziel's first licensed card may look like.

 

For a little humor, I came across this picture of a mannequin wearing a Browns QB jersey. This is a list of all of the QBs that have been under center since the 1999 Browns expansion team.

Manziel Predictor Pack In Hand

I got my Leaf Manziel Predictor pack today. I didn’t pull Seattle but I did get a city with a possibility...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oakland, which has the #5 pick. A team in need of a QB, not a bad card to get. Currently there are no Oakland cards up for auction. The back of the card just has the redemption information, the expiration date is August 8, 2014. I wonder why it is such a short redemption period.

Leaf Betting On Johnny Manziel

 

 Building on the hype of “Johnny Football”, Leaf has announced the release of a special draft predictor set, 2014 Leaf Johnny Manziel Predictor Packs. The packs, which run $9.99 (plus $2.99 s&h) are only available through Leaf’s eBay store, only contain one card.

 

These cards feature Manziel (in Texas A&M uniform) pictured in front of a skyline related to each of the 32 NFL teams. There will only be 41 of each team’s card produced. When you purchase a pack you get one of the cards randomly and after the NFL Draft, anyone with the card of the team that drafts Manziel can redeem the card for an autographed version that is limited to #/41.

 

The entire set will be quite limited when you think about it, there will be 41 cards for each of the 32 teams which means only a total of 1,312 cards will be made. I am wondering what the plan is for the autographed versions, will they print an additional 41 to be signed and shipped or will the winners need to send in their card for the exchange.

 

So far a little over 300 have been sold and as the draft gets closer I would expect that number to increase quickly and with the first orders estimated to be delivered as early as Thursday I would expect to see the Texans, Jaguars and Browns cards demanding a premium on the secondary market (with Oakland, Minnesota and maybe Tennessee getting a nice bump too). I purchased one earlier today and I am personally hoping for the Seahawks card, even though I know he will not be drafted by Seattle. With my luck I will probably get a team that already has a franchise QB like Denver or Green Bay.

A Tale Of Two Quarterbacks

Today Texas A&M Quarterback Johnny Manziel’s punishment was handed out for his involvement in being paid to sign hundreds, if not thousands, of autographs last January when he met with autograph broker Drew Tieman in Miami before the BCS Championship Game. If we go by what Drew Tieman said on August 6th, he said he paid Manziel $7,500 to sign "hundreds" of autographs.

 

His punishment?

Suspended one half of the Texas A&M season opener vs. Rice

That is ONE HALF of a game, the first 2 Quarters, a mere 30 minutes of game time.

 

 

In 2010 Ohio State Quarterback Terrelle Pryor was punished for his involvement in receiving free tattoos for signing autographs, plus selling his Sportsman Award, his Big 10 Championship ring and a good luck charm. The three items sold for $2,500 and no price was assigned for the tattoos but for argument sake lets say $500 and we are looking at Pryor getting $3,000 total for his signing and items sold.

 

His punishment?

Suspended 5 games, which were carried over to the NFL after Pryor was selected by the Raiders in the 2011 NFL Supplemental Draft.

 

 

Holy crap, are we talking about the same nonsensical all-mighty NCAA that issued both punishments? Yes we are. The NCAA is now claiming that they cannot find any proof that Manziel was paid, even though a number of people were in the room and stated that they saw money change hands. Plus we are talking hundreds items signed so the NCAA is saying that this kid, who has already proved that he is a knucklehead, signed all of these items for free out of the goodness of his heart?

 

If this kid was not paid for the autographs than why is he being suspended? If he did no wrong there should be no punishment.

 

I call shenanigans on the NCAA

 

The difference? Manziel is the reigning Heisman Trophy winner and brings in millions of dollars to the NCAA and Texas A&M who want to hold on to this golden goose for at least one more year before he bolts to the NFL where Pryor was just another OSU Quarterback.

 

From the people that brought us the BCS we now find out that the NCAA is willing to overlook serious allegations when money can be made.

Leaf's Johnny Manziel Redemption Cards

On February 24^th Brian Gray made an announcement on Leaf’s Facebook page stating that the Mystery Redemption card in 2013 Metal Draft Football and 2013 Valiant Football is going to be big, a week later they began the teasing again when they posted about the upcoming announcement. Sure enough on March 6^th the announcement came, the Mystery Redemption can be exchanged for a Johnny Manziel original art/cut signature card. The cards began shipping the next day and are now beginning to show up on eBay.

 

The cards are all original artwork from a sketch artist and the autographs are all cut signatures purchased from outside sellers who are not connected to Manziel. This is an interesting route because Manziel, his family or anyone from Texas A&M were not contacted or involved with the creation of the cards. I know there will be some people who find this questionable, which it is a loop hole but perfectly legal based on the NCAA’s rules, but it obviously has not affected the collectibility considering the auctions are running $800 and up. What is interesting is that there are a couple of Mystery Redemption cards up for auction and they are running $100 or more lower than the actual cards, I wonder if the difference is due to the fact that with the redemption card you do not know which sketch you will get where to purchase the card you see for sale then you know what you will get.

 

The final cards are authenticated by PSA/DNA and slabbed by Beckett. Here is a card currently up for auction on eBay to show what the cards look like when they are shipped.