Johnny Manziel re-hires old agent aiming for NFL comeback

Quarterback Johnny Manziel has re-hired his old U.S.-based agent in an attempt to make an NFL comeback, according to a report from NFL.com.

Comeback is real: Johnny Manziel has re-hired agent @ErikBurkhardt after Burkhardt had him make serious commitments, per @MikeGarafolo & me

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 1, 2017

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Johnny Manziel, serious enough to get Burkhardt to take him back, is drawing real interest from teams at the Combine, per @MikeGarafolo & me

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 1, 2017

Manziel is on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats negotiation list and has been the subject of plenty of recent CFL speculation. 3DownNation reported that the Riders worked out Manziel – which the player and the team both denied – and several pundits have opined that Manziel could be a good fit in Toronto, a market in desperate need of a boost in star-power. New head coach Marc Trestman was asked about Manziel during Tuesday’s introductory news conference (and predictably deferred.)

Burkhardt dropped Manziel as a client just over a month before the Cleveland Browns released him on Mar. 11, 2016, less than a week after Manziel was accused of striking his ex-girlfriend. Manziel has since struck a deal with prosecutors that would see the charges dropped if he meets certain conditions over the period of a year.

And Manziel has already started his rehabilitation tour back to pro football in a public setting. He sent out a series of Tweets on Jan. 19 acknowledging past struggles with alcohol although he has since deleted his Twitter account, stating it is a “distraction.”

The Browns selected Manziel in the first-round, 22nd overall in the 2014 NFL draft. He played in 14 games, starting eight (2-6 win-loss), completing 147 of 258 passes (57 per cent completion rate) for 1,675 yards with seven touchdowns and seven interceptions, posting a 74.4 QB rating. Manziel added 46 carries for 259 yards (5.6-yards-per-carry) and one touchdown.