Johnny Manziel Explains What Differentiates College Football From the NFL and Why the Transition Was a Major Challenge for Him

While the NCAA is the breeding ground for NFL talent, the two leagues are worlds apart. Especially for a rookie player, the transition can be drastic, even without the added load of constant changes right from the offseason. And Johnny Manziel is a living example of that.

The former Cleveland quarterback was a Heisman winner and was selected in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft. But his debut season and the one that followed were filled with disappointment. He failed to even establish his foothold in the league, despite all the expectations surrounding him. His personal issues took an even greater toll, and his career, as we know it, ended within just two years.

The 31-year-old opened up about his initial experience in the big league on the Rich Eisen show, and the host even asked what advice he would give his younger self if given the chance. Calm and composed, Manziel stated that he would tell his former self during training camp to keep his personal and sports life separate.

“I think, for me, I would have blocked off a lot of my other life, a lot of my outside life.”

He also shared his experience of the unmanageable switch from college football to the NFL. He quickly felt the differences in the play-calling style and the major change in how the offense operated. His rookie year came as a “really big adjustment,” while his time at Texas A&M went by like a breeze.

“It was a huge transition for me, just getting into the difference in this play calling, the way the NFL offense kind of works at Texas A&M. It couldn’t have been more easy, couldn’t have been more free flowing of a spread offense.”

Manziel further shared how he had to spend the first couple of months relearning the sport in the league’s style. It was only after his training camp that he began to get a “good grip” on the game. But, it was also the time when he started slacking off—something he now wishes had been different.

“So, I think after being as successful as I was in college, really being able to kind of breeze through at times. I wish I would have put just a little bit more effort into the into that training camp self.”

In the candid conversation, the former QB didn’t shy away from talking about his career-changing point during the Draft either. In hindsight, Manziel wouldn’t have even attended the event.

Johnny Manziel would have liked to spend Draft Night elsewhere

Eisen extended the discussion and asked Manziel what his advice would be for his former self when he was attending the 2014 NFL Draft. Looking back at the time when he was just 20 years old, the ex-Browns star stated he would tell himself to just “relax“. After putting in tons of work, he wishes he would have taken it all in with less stress and anxiety.

Manziel further confessed that he wouldn’t have gone to the Draft if he had the choice now. Instead, he would have spent it with his family.

“I think if I would go back in time, I don’t know if I would go to the NFL Draft. I think I would have been better for me to spend it with my family and kind of be somewhere else.”

Things might have turned out quite differently for Manziel if he had taken a few different steps after the draft. But alas, the once-superstar QB is no longer a name remembered fondly in the NFL. Or, at least not for good reasons.