National Football League

Johnny Manziel documentary sheds light on lack of work ethic: 'He doesn't watch tape'

Updated Aug. 11, 2023 1:38 a.m. ET

The Johnny Manziel phenomenon — his rise to stardom as Texas A&M's "Jonny Football" taking the SEC by storm as a freshman quarterback sensation in 2012, then his equally sharp downfall with the Cleveland Browns in the NFL — has been captured in a new Netflix documentary: Untold: Johnny Football.

The film is a raw, no-holds-barred look at both Manziel's public stardom and fall from grace on the field, and his personal struggles off it. It also revealed some incredible claims about his game preparation habits — or lack thereof.

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Here are some of the most noteworthy nuggets from the documentary that were going viral on social media following its release.

Manziel watched zero game film during his Browns career

In the recollection of Manziel's then-agent Erik Burkhardt, he received a call one day from Browns general manager Ray Farmer. The Browns had given Manziel an iPad to watch game film and could track how much time he spent on that iPad. What they found stunned Burkhardt.

"Their GM's calling me, saying, ‘He doesn’t watch tape," Burkhardt says in the documentary, "I'm like, ‘Well, he’s gotta watch some tape.' He's like, ‘EB, his iPad hours is at 0.00.’"

The film then cuts to Manziel himself holding up his left hand cupped in a circle.

"Zero," Manziel confirms.

The anecdote invokes a similar one involving former No. 1 overall pick JaMarcus Russell during his time with the Raiders, just with some newer technology to sniff out Manziel's apparent laziness. As Russell's former teammate David Diehl later recalled in a radio interview, the Raiders (in the days before iPads and screen time tracking) gave Russell some video tapes that ostensibly showed opponents' blitz packages, and the next day, Russell showed up to practice saying he had viewed the film. The Raiders knew he was lying — because the tapes were blank.

Colin Cowherd reacted to the revelation about Manziel's lack of film study Wednesday's episode of "The Herd," ripping Manziel for not honoring the investment that fans put into watching him play by not investing any of his own time into preparing for those games.

"Fans make such a financial and emotional commitment to their favorite football teams," Cowherd said. "The tailgating, the tickets, the fantasy leagues, the merchandise. … And your quarterback won't commit to watching tape? That is discouraging. It's hard to wrap your brain around. It's literally the opposite of what Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota are in their Netflix special."

Johnny Manziel admits in documentary he watched 'zero' film in NFL

That story about Manziel may not be the most surprising to many, however, given how much he struggled in his NFL career — and given what one of his longtime friends said about Manziel's habits as a college superstar.

Ex-high school teammate: ‘Never saw him look at a playbook ever’

Nate Fitch, who has known Manziel since middle school and was with him throughout the quarterback's rise to college stardom at Texas A&M, claims that he never saw the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner ever look at a playbook, let alone sit down for film study.

Manziel had his agent run routes for him at a workout for the Browns; broke into A&M storage to get cleats

Before Manziel's private pre-draft workout with the team that would eventually pick him, Manziel stayed up partying with his wide receivers — to the point that only the quarterback himself was able to collect himself and show up to the Texas A&M practice facility to work out with Browns coaches. Thus, Burkhardt had to be the one running routes for him.

After seeing clips of himself talking about his experience with Manziel go viral on social media, Burkhardt expanded upon another story in the documentary.

Oh, and Manziel had lost his equipment bag the night before, and it was a holiday weekend, so the two had to break into a closed Texas A&M equipment cage in order to get gear for the workout — and ended up with stiff offensive-lineman-sized cleats and tiny A&M branded shorts that Manziel had worn as boxers the night before.

Manziel has not played in the NFL since 2015 and has not played football professionally since 2022 in the now-dormant "Fan Controlled Football" league. The documentary contains graphic depictions of Manziel's struggles with drug addiction as well as a recounting of a suicide attempt, so viewer discretion is advised.