Johnny Manziel is being courted by the Arena Football League.

NFL

by Jared Schwartz

Johnny Manziel is being courted by the Arena Football League.

The AFL is scheduled to restart for the league's third time in April, and commissioner Lee Hutton III has made it clear he wants the polarizing Manziel back in the game.

“I reached out to Johnny Manziel,” Hutton told TMZ. “So, Johnny, I'm a Texas guy. So if you're ready to come back indoors, because you've done so well, we'll get you in.” will find a place for you.”

Manziel, 31, recently joined the 7-on-7 Fan Controlled Football League after brief stints in the Canadian Football League and Alliance of American Football after a checkered NFL career ended. was playing in

Manziel, a first-round pick by the Browns in 2014, spent just two years in the NFL after emerging as a superstar at Texas A&M and winning his first Heisman Trophy as a freshman.

He recently revealed that he lost 40 pounds due to using cocaine, OxyContin, and Percocet while trying to cope in Las Vegas after his NFL career ended.

“At that point, I looked in the mirror and I saw myself no different than when I was in Cleveland,” Manziel said on the “Club Shay Shay” podcast in February. “I had no idea I had lost 40 pounds until I stepped on the scale at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas.

“When these pictures came out, I remember thinking, 'Damn.'” What am I doing? Oh, anyway, we'll find out later. we'll go there again. ”

F1 Sports & Entertainment purchased the rights to AFL in January 2022 after the league disbanded in 2009.

“We love soccer in this country,” Hatton said. “How can I satisfy my desire for soccer? [the offseason]? So we designed a very short and compact season of 10 weeks that starts literally right after.? [the NFL draft]”